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rican  Revivals 


t/isjvk  a  'bej'rdsley:  pad. 


FROM    THE    LIBRARY   OF 
REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.   D.  D 

BEQUEATHED    BY    HIM    TO 

THE   LIBRARY   OF 

PRINCETON   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY 


JMrlaion 

I 

Section 


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[J MAF 


!AR  <*1  1932 
-1 


History  of 
American  Revivals 


Frank  Grenville  Beardsley,  s.t.d. 


AMERICAN   TRACT   SOCIETY 

150  Nassau  Street 
BOSTON  NEW    YORK  CHICAGO 


COPYRIGHT,    I904 
BY    AMERICAN    TRACT    SOCIETY 


PREFACE. 

The  present  volume  makes  no  pretensions  to 
literary  excellence,  nor  does  it  lay  claim  to  being 
an  exhaustive  or  critical  treatment  of  the  subject. 
Its  purpose  is  to  furnish  within  modest  limits  a 
simple  and  straightforward  account  of  the  great 
revivals  and  revival  movements  characteristic  of  our 
national  religious  history.  For  obvious  reasons 
every  revival  and  every  individual  associated  with 
revival  history  could  not  receive  mention.  It  is 
to  be  regretted,  moreover,  that  the  data  at  hand 
have  not  warranted  a  fuller  treatment  of  some 
phases  of  this  subject.  Aside  from  these  limitations 
the  effort  has  been  made  to  give  as  complete  a 
narrative  of  our  revival  history  as  possible. 

Frank  G.  Beardsley. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://archive.org/details/americaOObear 


.  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    I.  PAGE 

Introductory — The  Genesis  of  Revivals  ....  1 

CHAPTER    II. 

Religious  Declension  and  Attempts  at  Reform      .         .  8 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Great  Awakening 20 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Period  of  the  Revolution 71 

CHAPTER    V. 

The  Awakening  of  1800 84 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Denominational  Movements — The  Congregationalists  and 

Presbyterians 108 

CHAPTER     VII. 

Charles  Grandison  Finney 118 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Denominational  Movements — The  Congregationalists  and 

Presbyterians — Concluded 152 

CHAPTER   IX. 

Denominational  Movements — The  Baptists      .         .         .163 

chapter  x. 
Denominational  Movements — The  Methodists  .         .         .       181 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Denominational  Movements — Concluded  .         .         .       205 

chapter   xn. 
The  Great  Revival  of  1857 213 

CHAPTER     XIII. 

The  Period  of  the  Civil  War 240 

CHAPTER     XIV. 

The   Lay   Movement   in   Revivals 254 

CHAPTER   XV. 

Organized  Movements 296 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Conclusion 308 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The  Genesis  of  Revivals. 

The  history  of  revivals  is  the  history  of  the 
church.  The  great  epochal  movements  which  have 
characterized  the  development  of  religion  may 
without  impropriety  be  designated  as  revivals.  In 
accordance  with  customary  usage  the  term  is  gener- 
ally applied  to  special  religious  services  protracted 
for  a  term  of  days  or  weeks,  when  unusual  efforts 
are  put  forth  to  reach  the  unconverted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  them  to  repentance  and  winning 
them  to  lives  of  faith  and  obedience.  Revivals  in 
this  sense  of  the  word  are  of  comparatively  recent 
origin  and  date  their  beginnings  a  little  more  than 
a  century  and  a  half  ago.  It  has  been  suggested, 
however,  that  the  annual  feasts  of  ancient  Judaism 
corresponded  in  some  respects  to  our  modern 
revivals  and  were  a  means  of  promoting  vital 
religion. 


2  AMERICAN   REVIVALS. 

According  to  the  generic  significance  of  the  word, 
it  means  to  re-animate,  to  awaken  new  life,  and 
hence  it  presupposes  a  state  of  declension.  But 
since  an  awakened  church  is  always  a  converting 
agency,  any  religious  awakening  is  a  revival, 
whether  the  term  be  applied  to  the  work  of  con- 
verting the  unregenerate  or  to  the  task  of  bringing 
new  life  to  a  dead  and  decaying  church.  With  this 
understanding  of  the  term  ample  justification  may 
be  found  for  the  statement  that  revivals  are  as  old 
as  human  history.  It  will  be  interesting,  therefore, 
if  not  profitable,  before  proceeding  to  a  delineation 
of  American  revivals,  to  consider  briefly  and  some- 
what cursorily  the  great  revivals  which  have  char- 
acterized the  growth  and  development  of  religion. 

For  our  earliest  information  upon  this  subject  we 
must  have  recourse  to  the  sacred  scriptures.  The 
Bible  is  a  manual  of  revivals  in  so  far  as  it  is  a 
record  of  the  successive  efforts  which  were  made 
by  patriarchs  and  kings,  by  prophets  and  apostles, 
for  the  redemption  and  religious  betterment  of  a 
sinning  world.  The  earliest  awakening  of  which 
it  speaks  is  that  tersely  described  as  occurring  in 
the  days  of  Enosh  when  men  began  to  call  on  the 
name  of  the  Lord.  Of  the  character  and  extent  of 
this  revival  we  can  only  conjecture,  but  it  was  an 
event  of  deepest  significance,  since  it  marks  the 
beginnings  of  revival  history. 


THE   GENESIS   OF   REVIVALS.  3 

Passing  on  to  the  history  of  Israel  we  discover 
that  the  Exodus,  in  its  purpose  and  aims,  as  a 
mighty  spiritual  quickening,  was  essentially  a 
revival.  It  marks  an  epoch  in  the  development  of  the 
chosen  people,  whence  they  were  to  emerge  from 
the  Egyptian  bondage,  not  only  as  the  conquerors 
of  Canaan,  but  as  the  pioneers  of  a  world-wide 
religion.  It  was  no  easy  undertaking,  however,  to 
discipline  this  army  of  slaves  and  fit  them  for  the 
responsibilities  of  self-government  under  the  the- 
ocracy. Backslidings  were  frequent  and  periodic. 
God's  providences  were  soon  forgotten  and  it  often 
became  necessary  to  admonish  and  rebuke  Israel 
for  her  rebellion  and  her  sins.  The  periods  of 
deeper  religious  life  which  followed  were  in  reality 
revivals.  As  we  study  further  the  development  of 
this  people  we  learn  that  such  awakenings  were 
characteristic  of  their  national  life.  Interesting 
accounts  are  given  of  spiritual  quickenings  in  the 
times  of  Joshua,  Samuel,  David,  Elijah,  Hezekiah, 
Josiah  and  Ezekiel.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how 
the  Jewish  nation  could  have  been  saved  from 
utter  apostasy  and  ruin  had  it  not  have  been  for 
these  gracious  visitations.  Even  these  did  not  save 
the  chosen  people  from  the  calamity  which  befell 
them  in  consequence  of  the  Assyrian  invasion. 
After  the  captivity  there  were  extensive  revivals 
under  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.     The  awakening  under 


4  AMERICAN   REVIVALS. 

Ezra  resembled  more  closely  our  modern  revivals 
than  any  of  the  recorded  awakenings  which  took 
place  during  the  pre-Christian  dispensation.  It  was 
a  protracted  meeting  in  which  unusual  interest  was 
displayed.  Ezra  preached  from  a  pulpit  of  wood, 
while  the  people  gave  heed  to  readings  and  expo- 
sitions of  the  law.  The  effects  of  this  revival  were 
lasting  and  beneficial. 

With  the  inauguration  of  Christianity  we  find 
that  Pentecost  is  the  emphatic  date  in  the  commence- 
ment of  the  new  era.  The  ministry  of  Jesus  together 
with  the  influence  of  his  character  upon  the 
minds  of  his  disciples  had  been  a  work  preparatory 
to  the  inception  of  that  movement  which  had  for 
its  object  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  But  the 
disciples  were  not  yet  fully  prepared  for  that  work. 
They  needed  the  enduement  with  power.  The  gift 
of  power  accompanied  the  advent  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
at  Pentecost.  That  they  were  then  ready  for  their 
great  work  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  after  they 
had  received  the  enduement  of  power,  under  the 
preaching  of  a  single  searching  sermon  by  the  Apos- 
tle Peter,  three  thousand  souls  were  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith. 

By  this  great  and  notable  event  the  Apostolic  age 
was  ushered  in  as  a  great  missionary  and  evan- 
gelistic era.  The  book  of  Acts  is  a  manual  of  the 
revivals  of  that  age  and  is  replete  with  accounts  of 


THE   GENESIS   OF  REVIVALS.  5 

awakenings  and  ingatherings  under  the  labors  of 
Peter  and  Paul  and  other  members  of  the  apostolic 
band. 

Dr.  Kirk,  in  speaking  of  the  influence  of  Pente- 
cost, says :  'The  impulse  of  this  revival  continued  to 
be  felt  through  four  centuries,  swelling  like  a  wave 
of  the  sea,  steadily  onward,  until  the  battle  of  the 
Milvian  Bridge  put  the  scepter  in  the  hands  of 
Constantine,  and  destroyed  thus  the  power  of  Pagan 
persecution ;  and  then  the  decree  of  Milan  pro- 
nounced the  religion  of  the  cross  the  religion  of  the 
empire."  * 

The  Christianization  of  the  Roman  Empire  did 
not  eliminate  certain  elements  of  paganism,  the 
reflex  influence  of  which  proved  disastrous  to  the 
new  faith.  As  a  consequence  a  night  of  spiritual 
darkness  settled  down  upon  Christendom,  in  which 
the  church  slumbered  on  in  contented  indifference 
to  the  pagan  ideas  and  corrupt  practices  which  were 
destroying  her  spiritual  power.  Voices  of  protest 
were  raised  now  and  then,  but  no  sweeping  results 
were  attained  until  there  came  a  mighty  awakening 
through  the  Protestant  Reformation. 

The  Reformation  was  not  an  event  unheralded  or 
unprepared  for.  The  Crusades,  resulting  in  the 
commercial  expansion  of  Europe  and  the  revival  of 


*  Kirk's  Revival  Lectures,  p.  115. 


6  AMERICAN   REVIVALS. 

learning,  the  preaching  of  Wyclif,  Huss,  and  Savon- 
arola, and  the  invention  of  printing,  were  potent 
factors  in  preparing  the  way  for  that  tremendous 
movement  which  convulsed  all  Europe  and  shook 
to  its  foundations  the  papal  throne.  To  Martin 
Luther  belongs  the  credit  for  having  precipitated 
the  crisis  which  was  bound  to  come.  The  hour 
was  struck  when  he  nailed  his  theses  upon  the  portal 
of  the  church  at  Wittenberg,  and  that  incident, 
insignificant  as  it  was,  became  one  of  the  supreme 
events  in  the  world's  history.  Zwingli,  Calvin, 
Knox,  and  a  host  of  lesser  lights  helped  to  complete 
the  work  which  he  had  begun  and  which  resulted 
in  the  spiritual  quickening  of  Christendom. 

In  England  the  cleavage  with  Rome  was  chiefly 
along  political  and  ecclesiastical  lines.  Henry  VIII. 
through  whom  it  was  effected  had  been  an  ardent 
Romanist,  but  when  the  pope  refused  to  grant 
him  a  divorce  from  Catherine  of  Arragon,  he  took 
matters  into  his  own  hands  and  proclaimed  himself 
the  head  of  the  English  Church.  This  never  could 
have  been  done,  had  there  not  have  been  a  strong 
undercurrent  of  Protestantism  in  the  popular  senti- 
ment of  the  day.  The  efforts  of  Wyclif  and  his  suc- 
cessors, the  humble  Lollards,  together  with  the  work 
of  the  Oxford  Reformers,  were  not  in  vain.  The 
fruit  of  their  labors  was  now  manifest  in  the  sub- 
mission and  support  of  the  people  to  the  reforms 


THE  GENESIS   OF   REVIVALS.  7 

of  Henry.  These  reforms  were  not  violent.  A 
change  in  the  headship  of  the  church  was  all  that 
was  at  first  contemplated.  Other  changes  were 
inevitable,  but  the  Protestantism  of  England  partook 
more  of  the  character  of  an  evolutionary  process 
rather  than  the  more  violent  form  of  revolution. 

In  consequence  of  the  persecutions  of  Mary,  many 
of  the  clergy  fled  to  the  continent,  where  they  came 
into  contact  with  a  type  of  Protestantism  much  more 
radical  than  that  of  England.  Especially  was  this 
true  at  Geneva  where  the  stern  genius  of  Calvin 
presided  in  ascetic  simplicity.  On  their  return  to 
England  after  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  they  car- 
ried with  them  a  desire  for  further  reform.  As  a 
consequence  the  Puritan  revival  was  inaugurated, 
which  subsequently  peopled  New  England  with 
colonists  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for  the  intro- 
duction of  that  more  vital  form  of  religion  which 
has  characterized  the  history  of  American  Christian- 
ity. 


CHAPTER   II. 

RELIGIOUS   DECLENSION    AND   ATTEMPTS 
AT   REFORM. 

The  Pilgrims  and  Puritans,  who  founded  the 
New  England  settlements,  were  men  of  sturdy  faith 
and  character.  They  would  have  gained  pre-emi- 
nence in  any  age.  The  Old  World  was  impover- 
ished by  their  departure,  but  it  required  men  of 
such  faith  and  such  character  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  a  great  republic  on  the  bleak  and  rugged  shores 
of  New  England.  They  were  possessed  of  pro- 
found convictions, — convictions  which  if  necessary 
would  have  caused  them  to  have  suffered  martyrdom 
for  the  principles  which  they  avowed, — convictions 
moreover  which  enabled  them  to  lay  aside  their 
ancestral  traditions  and  the  comforts  of  the  mother 
country  to  engage  in  the  hardships  of  a  pioneer 
enterprise.  They  were  men  of  fervid  piety  and 
intense  moral  earnestness.  But  with  the  passing 
away  of  the  first  generation  of  these  men,  the  spirit 
of    self-sacrifice    and    devotion    to    sublime    moral 


RELIGIOUS    DECLENSION.  9 

ideals  was  not  transmitted  unimpaired  to  their 
immediate  posterity.  In  fact,  as  time  elapsed  a 
decline  in  religion  and  morality  became  very 
apparent. 

To  the  causes  which  were  operative  in  producing 
this  state  of  declension,  the  church  life  of  the  period 
contributed  somewhat.  Public  worship  consisted 
of  morning  and  afternoon  preaching  services  on  the 
Lord's  day,  and  in  many  places  a  mid-week  lecture 
was  conducted  on  Wednesday  or  Thursday,  which, 
however,  was  not  a  gathering  for  social  worship, 
such  as  is  our  modern  prayer-meeting,  but  was 
similar  in  character  to  the  services  of  the  Sabbath 
day.  These  services  were  cheerless  and  unattrac- 
tive. Instruments  of  music  were  unknown.  The 
singing  was  confined  to  the  chanting  of  Psalms 
metrically  arranged,  and  the  number  of  tunes  made 
use  of  for  this  purpose  was  seldom  to  exceed  five 
or  six.  The  sermons,  often  highly  metaphysical  in 
character,  not  infrequently  required  two  and  three 
hours  for  their  delivery.  The  type  of  religious 
experience  inculcated  was  harsh  and  unsymmetri- 
cal.  There  was  nothing  to  lead  men  to  an  appre- 
ciation of  the  beauty  of  religion  or  to  set  forth  the 
desirability  of  communion  with  God.  The  idea  of 
loving  service  received  little  or  no  emphasis,  while 
the  religious  life  of  the  individual  conformed  to 
the  stern  precepts  of  duty  and  fear  as  the  ultimate 


io  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

standards  of  conduct.  The  doctrines  taught  by  the 
church  were  ultra-Calvinistic  in  character  and  led  to 
a  practical  denial  of  human  freedom.  Not  yet  had 
the  divines  of  New  England  learned  to  blend  har- 
moniously the  doctrines  of  divine  sovereignty  and 
man's  free  agency.  With  an  insistence  upon  man's 
absolute  inability  to  do  anything  towards  securing 
salvation,  there  is  small  cause  for  wonder  that  con- 
versions were  few,  and  that  men  were  coming  to 
look  upon  themselves  as  in  no  wise  responsible  for 
their  impenitence  and  rebellion  towards  God. 

More  potent  still  in  its  deteriorating  influence 
upon  the  religious  life  of  the  people  was  the  union 
of  church  and  state.  Church  membership  was 
requisite  to  citizenship,  churches  were  supported  by 
taxation,  and  church  attendance  was  made  com- 
pulsory by  law.  Well  meaning  as  were  such  pro- 
visions, it  was  a  fatal  mistake.  State  churches  are 
seldom  conducive  to  vital  religion,  but  this  was  a 
fact  which  New  England  was  to  learn  from  long 
and  bitter  experience.  Men  cannot  be  made  pious 
by  law,  and  the  attempt  to  do  so  has  often  led  to 
serious  if  not  amusing  difficulties.  There  were 
times  in  the  history  of  New  England  when  men 
who  were  not  in  a  state  of  grace  were  sorely  needed 
in  public  affairs,  and  the  story  is  told  of  one  saint, 
who  had  been  excommunicated,  who  "was  actually 
arrested  and  commanded  for  the  love  of  God  to 


RELIGIOUS    DECLENSION.  n 

repent,  because  he  was  the  only  man  competent  to 
lead  their  forces  against  the  Indians." 

Non-church  members  suffered  keenly  from  ecclesi- 
astical disabilities.  According  to  the  principles  of 
the  Puritans,  only  the  regenerate  were  eligible  to 
church  membership.  The  baptized  children  of  such 
were  in  covenant  relations  with  the  church  and  were 
entitled  to  its  watch-care,  but  they  were  not  admitted 
to  the  full  privileges  of  church  membership  until 
they  had  made  a  public  profession  of  regenerate 
faith.  Until  such  a  profession  was  made  their  chil- 
dren could  neither  be  baptized  nor  enjoy  the  watch- 
care  of  the  church.  Moreover  only  those  who  were 
in  full  membership  had  any  voice  in  the  affairs  of 
the  church.  Truly,  a  strange  anomaly  was  this! 
Multitudes  there  were  in  New  England  who  by 
taxation  were  compelled  to  contribute  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  church,  and  by  law  were  forced  to 
attend  its  services,  but  who  could  have  no  voice 
either  in  public  affairs  or  in  the  choice  of  a  relig- 
ious teacher,  and  whose  children  were  debarred 
from  all  of  the  privileges  of  the  church. 

To  relieve  the  disabilities  of  such  the  famous 
Half-Way  Covenant  was  adopted  by  a  "Synod  of 
elders  and  messengers,  from  all  the  churches  in 
the  Massachusetts  Colony,"  which  convened  at  Bos- 
ton in  1662,  by  order  of  the  General  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts,  to   discuss   among  other  questions   "who 


12  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

are  the  subjects  of  baptism?"  For  some  time  there 
had  been  a  growing  liberalism  upon  the  subject. 
When  the  Cambridge  Platform  (an  elaborate 
declaration  of  the  principles  and  practices  of  the 
New  England  churches)  was  adopted  in  1648  there 
had  been  a  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  lowering 
the  standards  of  the  baptismal  requirement,  but  out 
of  deference  to  a  powerful  minority,  no  decisive 
action  was  taken.  From  this  time  the  discussion 
waxed  warm.  Many  of  the  ablest  divines  of  New 
England  stoutly  opposed  any  departure  from  the 
principles  of  their  fathers,  but  the  action  of  the 
Boston  Synod  in  1662  was  final.  In  accordance 
with  its  provisions,  persons  baptized  in  infancy, 
"understanding  the  doctrines  of  faith,  and  publicly 
professing  their  assent  thereto;  not  scandalous  in 
life,  and  solemnly  owning  the  covenant  of  the 
church,  wherein  they  give  up  themselves  and  their 
children  to  the  Lord,  and  subject  themselves  to  the 
government  of  Christ  and  the  church,  their  children 
are  to  be  baptized."  The  Half- Way  Covenant  made 
no  provision  for  any  change  in  the  civil  status  of 
those  who  came  within  the  scope  of  its  action.  This 
was  to  remain  as  it  was.  While  it  relieved  some 
of  their  ecclesiastical  disabilities,  those  who  owned 
the  Covenant  were  not  admitted  to  the  Lord's  table, 
nor  could  they  have  any  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the 
church. 


RELIGIOUS    DECLENSION.  13 

The  Half- Way  Covenant  elicited  a  vigorous  pro- 
test on  the  part  of  its  opponents,  but  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts  "judged  it  meet  to  commend 
the  same  unto  the  consideration  of  all  the  churches 
and  people,"  and  thus  it  became  a  part  of  the  church 
discipline  of  the  colony. 

The  effect  of  the  Half-Way  Covenant  was  not 
altogether  salutary.  Instead  of  promoting  vital 
religion  its  tendency  was  to  encourage  moralism. 
Those  who  were  affected  by  it,  instead  of  qualify- 
ing themselves  for  church  membership,  were  rather 
encouraged  by  its  provisions  to  rest  content  with 
the  privileges  which  it  conferred.  Moreover  it  was 
not  kept  within  the  bounds  of  its  original  provisions. 
"Originally  its  provisions  applied  only  to  church 
members  who  were  admitted  in  minority,  but  before 
many  years  churches  which  adopted  it  construed  it 
as  admitting  those  non  church  members  by  baptism 
and  even  men  of  lax  personal  morality  who  might 
desire  baptism  for  their  children."  *  Gradually  the 
Lord's  table  was  opened  to  such  as  owned  the 
Covenant.  By  some  churches  it  was  voted  that 
"those  who  wish  to  offer  their  children  in  baptism 
join  with  the  church,  and  have  a  right  to  all  the 
ordinances  and  privileges  of  the  church;"  and  "if 
any  have  any  doubts  with  regard  to  their  preparation 


*  Dexter's  Congregationalism  in  Literature,  p.  475. 


14  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

for  the  Lord's  supper,  they  may  have  the  liberty  to 
stay  away  from  that  ordinance  until  their  doubts 
shall  be  removed."  At  a  later  time  advocates  were 
not  wanting  for  the  theory  that  the  Lord's  supper 
was  a  converting  ordinance  and  a  means  of  grace 
for  the  unregenerate. 

A  general  lapse  in  morals  was  the  logical  con- 
sequence, and  this  followed  by  a  series  of  disasters 
on  land  and  sea,  in  accordance  with  the  stern  ideas 
of  that  age,  was  interpreted  as  a  visitation  from  the 
Almighty  because  of  the  iniquities  of  the  people. 
Early  in  the  history  of  New  England,  an  unusual 
degree  of  prosperity  had  been  enjoyed,  but  now 
crops  had  failed  repeatedly,  smallpox  and  other  epi- 
demics had  prevailed  in  the  colonies,  disastrous  fires 
had  visited  Boston,  and  violent  storms  at  sea  had 
done  great  damage  to  shipping  and  had  occasioned 
the  loss  of  many  lives.  King  Philip's  War,  1674- 
1676,  seemed  to  fill  their  cup  of  desolation  to  over- 
flowing. One  out  of  every  twelve  men  of  military 
age  had  met  death  at  the  hands  of  bloodthirsty 
savages,  property  was  destroyed  and  some  entire 
towns  wiped  out  of  existence,  while  the  debts  which 
had  been  incurred  had  brought  the  colonies  to  the 
verge  of  bankruptcy. 

These  conditions  provoked  thoughtful  minds  to 
serious  contemplation.  The  General  Court  was 
petitioned  to  order  a  synod.     The  Court  responded 


ATTEMPTS  AT   REFORM.  15 

and  in  September,  1679,  a  synod,  which  was  known 
as  the  Reforming  Synod,  convened  at  Boston  to 
consider  ( 1 )  What  are  the  evils  that  have  pro- 
voked the  Lord  to  bring  his  judgment  on  New  Eng- 
land? (2)  What  is  to  be  done  that  those  evils  may 
be  reformed? 

After  a  careful  consideration  of  these  problems, 
thirteen  evils  were  specified  as  being  the  causes  of 
the  disasters  and  calamities  which  had  come  upon 
them.  They  were  as  follows :  decay  of  godliness  on 
the  part  of  professing  Christians ;  pride  and  extrava- 
gance in  dress ;  neglect  of  baptism  and  church  fellow-' 
ship  together  with  a  failure  to  testify  against  Quak- 
ers and  Baptists;  profanity  and  irreverent  behavior 
in  the  sanctuary;  absence  of  Sabbath  observ- 
ance ;  lack  of  family  government  and  worship ;  back- 
bitings,  censures,  revilings  and  litigations  between 
church  members ;  intemperance,  tavern  haunting  and 
putting  the  bottle  to  the  lips  of  Indians,  besides, 
adultery,  lustful  dress  and  behavior,  mixed  dancings, 
gaming  and  idleness;  dishonesty;  covetousness  and 
a  love  of  the  world;  opposition  to  reformation  and 
leniency  towards  sin ;  a  want  of  public  spirit  in  caus- 
ing schools  and  other  common  interests  to  languish ; 
and  finally  a  general  unfruitfulness  under  the  means 
of  grace  and  a  refusal  to  repent. 

To  remedy  these  evils  it  was  recommended  that 
the  chief  persons  in  church  and  state  be  careful  to  set 


16  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

a  godly  example;  that  the  Cambridge  Platform  be 
re-affirmed;  that  none  be  admitted  to  communion 
who  had  not  made  a  full  profession  of  saving  faith ; 
that  discipline  in  the  churches  be  diligently  enforced ; 
that  the  churches  be  fully  officered ;  that  the  magis- 
trates attend  to  the  support  of  such  officers;  that 
righteous  laws  should  be  established  and  enforced; 
that  churches  renew  their  covenants  with  God ;  that 
the  sins  of  the  times  be  engaged  against;  that  the 
churches  agree  in  covenanting  to  promote  holiness 
and  a  closer  walk  with  God;  that  provision  should 
be  made  to  support  Harvard  College  and  all  schools 
of  learning;  and  that  all  should  "cry  mightily  unto 
God,  both  in  ordinary  and  extraordinary  manner, 
that  he  would  be  pleased  to  rain  down  righteous- 
ness." 

The  results  of  the  Reforming  Synod  were  salu- 
tary but  not  lasting.  Many  of  the  churches  solemnly 
renewed  their  covenants,  days  of  fasting  and  prayer 
were  appointed  and  in  some  places  there  were  large 
accessions  to  the  number  of  communicants.  Accord- 
ing to  Cotton  Mather,  it  was  followed  "not  only  by 
a  great  advancement  of  holiness  in  the  people  but 
also  by  a  great  addition  of  converts  to  their  holy 
fellowship."  But  in  most  instances  these  additions 
consisted  of  such  as  owned  the  Half-Way  Covenant 
and  gave  their  assent  thereto,  so  that  the  way  was 
opened     for     a     repetition     of    those     very     evils 


ATTEMPTS   AT   REFORM.  17 

which  the  Reforming  Synod  was  designed  to 
correct. 

The  disasters  moreover  which  had  visited  the  peo- 
ple were  not  averted,  and  in  so  far  as  they  occupied 
the  public  mind  to  the  exclusion  of  religion  they 
served  to  aggravate  the  demoralizing  tendencies  of 
the  time.  The  loss  of  the  old  charter  in  Massachu- 
setts, the  seizure  of  the  Old  South  meeting-house  for 
an  Episcopal  service,  and  the  witchcraft  delusion 
at  Salem  added  to  the  political  and  religious  dis- 
turbances of  the  day.  A  combination  of  such  evils, 
together  with  the  spiritual  desolation  prevalent  in 
the  New  England  churches,  gave  a  gloomy  aspect  to 
the  closing  years  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  opening  years  of  the  new  century  were  no 
less  gloomy  than  the  closing  years  of  the  old.  In 
1702  Increase  Mather  exclaimed:  "Oh  New  Eng- 
land, New  England !  tremble,  for  the  glory  is  going : 
it  is  gradually  departing."  In  1721  he  said:  "Oh 
degenerate  New  England !  what  art  thou  come  to  at 
this  day?  How  are  those  sins  become  common  in 
thee  that  once  were  not  so  much  as  heard  of  in  this 
land?"  Election  and  fast  day  sermons  of  the  time 
abound  in  similar  allusions  to  the  prevailing  declen- 
sion in  religion.  The  leaven  of  the  Half- Way  Cove- 
nant was  performing  its  deadly  work.  During  the 
early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  what  was  known 
as   Stoddardeanism    (so  named  because  advocated 


18  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

by  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard  of  Northampton,  Mass. ) 
became  widely  prevalent.  He  maintained  "that 
sanctification  is  not  a  necessary  qualification  to  par- 
taking of  the  Lord's  Supper,"  "that  the  Lord's  sup- 
per is  a  converting  ordinance,"  and  wrote  a  treatise 
in  defense  of  the  same.  There  was  some  opposition 
to  be  sure,  but  on  account  of  Mr.  Stoddard's  com- 
manding influence  his  views  received  wide  accept- 
ance throughout  New  England. 

With  the  ebb-tide  in  religion  there  had  been  a 
steady  decline  in  the  morals  of  the  people.  Jonathan 
Edwards,  writing  of  the  conditions  prevalent  in 
his  own  parish  about  1730,  said:  "It  seemed  to  be 
a  time  of  extraordinary  dullness  in  religion;  licen- 
tiousness for  some  years  greatly  prevailed  among 
the  youth  of  the  town;  there  were  many  of  them 
very  much  addicted  to  night  walking  and  frequent- 
ing the  tavern,  and  lewd  practices,  wherein  some 
by  their  example  exceedingly  corrupted  others.  It 
was  their  manner  very  frequently  to  get  together 
in  conventions  of  both  sexes,  for  mirth  and  jollity, 
which  they  called  frolicks;  and  they  would  often 
spend  the  greater  part  of  the  night  in  them,  without 
any  regard  to  order  in  the  families  they  belonged 
to;  and  indeed  family  government  did  too  much 
fail  in  the  town."  *     Northampton  furnishes  a  mild 


*  Works,  Vol.  III.,  p.  232. 


ATTEMPTS  AT   REFORM.  19 

example  of  the  conditions  which  were  prevalent 
throughout  New  England.  The  situation  so  far 
as  we  are  able  to  learn  presents  an  ever-darkening 
picture  of  the  state  of  society  and  the  moral  condi- 
tion of  the  people. 

Was  this  state  of  affairs  to  continue?  Were  con- 
ditions to  wax  worse  and  worse  ?  Had  God  forsaken 
New  England?  For  a  time  it  appeared  to  many 
as  if  he  had.  But  the  darkness  of  the  period  was 
the  darkness  which  precedes  the  dawn,  a  dawn  that 
was  to  usher  in  the  Great  Awakening,  an  awaken- 
ing which  was  to  result  in  the  ingathering  of  thou- 
sands and  the  spiritual  regeneration,  not  only  of 
New  England,  but  of  the  entire  colonial  system 
bordering  on  the  Atlantic,  and  which  was  to  give 
spiritual  strength  for  the  struggle  for  independence. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Dark  as  were  the  conditions  which  preceded  the 
Great  Awakening,  there  were  not  wanting  rays  of 
light  to  give  promise  of  brighter  days.  Rev.  Solo- 
mon Stoddard,  whose  practices  evidently  were  bet- 
ter than  his  theories,  had  been  blessed  in  his  pastorate 
at  Northampton,  with  special  ingatherings  which 
he  called  harvests,  during  the  years  1679,  I^3> 
1696,  1 712,  and  1 7 18.  Revivals  were  also  reported 
at  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1696,  at  Taunton,  Mass.,  in 
1705,  and  at  Windom,  Conn.,  in  1721. 

The  great  earthquake  of  1727  profoundly  affected 
the  public  mind  and  led  many  to  inquire  seriously 
concerning  the  way  of  salvation. 

That  same  year  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennent,  who  was 
destined  to  play  no  inconspicuous  part  in  the  Great 
Awakening,  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  a  Presby- 
terian Church  at  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey. 
There  he  came  in  contact  with  the  fruitful  ministry 
of  Rev.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  who  for  seven 
years  had  been  pastor  of  a  Dutch  Reformed  Church 
in  the  vicinity,  and  whose  success  together  with 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  21 

his  fraternal  counsel  incited  the  young  minister  to 
a  spirit  of  inquiry  concerning  his  own  lack  of  fruit- 
fulness  in  ministerial  labors.  A  sickness  which 
visited  him  about  this  time  deepened  these  impres- 
sions to  such  an  extent  that  he  resolved  to  be  more 
faithful  and  earnest  in  his  ministry  should  he 
recover.  Upon  his  restoration  to  health  he  sought 
both  by  personal  work  and  the  faithful  presentation 
of  gospel  truth  to  awaken  the  indifferent  and  arouse 
the  impenitent  to  a  sense  of  their  spiritual  needs, 
"which  method,"  he  said,  "was  sealed  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  conviction  and  conversion  of  a  con- 
siderable number  of  persons  at  various  times  and 
in  different  places  in  that  part  of  the  country  as 
appeared  by  their  acquaintance  with  experimental 
religion  and  good  conversation."  * 

These  various  spiritual  quickenings,  which  were 
as  mercy  drops  before  the  showers  of  refreshing, 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  country  was  not 
altogether  unprepared  for  that  tremendous  wave  of 
religious  influence  which  swept  over  the  colonies 
and  which  has  become  known  in  history  as  the 
GREAT  AWAKENING.  So  far  as  the  human 
origin  of  this  Awakening  is  concerned,  it  commenced 
in  the  quiet  rural  parish  of  Northampton,  Mass., 
about  1734. 


*  Tracy's  Great  Azvakening,  p.  35. 


22  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  under  whose  preaching 
appeared  the  first  manifestations  of  revival  power, 
was  born  at  East  Windsor,  Conn.,  October  5th, 
1703.  His  father  was  a  Congregational  minister 
and  his  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  celebrated  Sol- 
omon Stoddard.  As  a  child  Edwards  was  preco- 
cious. At  six  he  commenced  the  study  of  Latin,  at 
ten  he  wrote  an  essay  denying  the  materiality  of  the 
human  soul,  and  at  thirteen  he  entered  Yale  College, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  September,  1720,  before 
he  had  quite  reached  the  age  of  seventeen.  During 
his  second  year  in  college  he  read  Locke  on  the 
"Human  Understanding,',  of  which  he  said  that  he 
was  inexpressibly  pleased  and  entertained;  more  so 
than  the  most  greedy  miser,  when  gathering  up  hand- 
fuls  of  silver  and  gold  from  some  newly  discovered 
treasure.  After  graduation  he  remained  two  years 
at  college,  studying  and  preparing  himself  for  the 
gospel  ministry  to  which  he  had  already  committed 
himself. 

In  August,  1722,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  the 
English  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York  City, 
where  he  labored  for  a  space  of  eight  months.  A 
permanent  call  was  extended  him,  but  the  church 
was  so  small  and  the  future  so  unpromising  that 
he  declined.  During  this  pastorate  he  began  a 
markable  series  of  resolutions  for  the  guidance  of 
his  conduct,  pledging  himself  to  do  nothing  which 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  23 

did  not  tend  to  the  glory  of  God.  Upon  relinquish- 
ing his  pastoral  duties  he  repaired  to  the  home  of 
his  father,  where  several  months  were  spent  in  a 
further  study  of  theology.  In  June,  1724,  he  re- 
ceived an  appointment  as  tutor  in  Yale  College, 
which  position  he  filled  for  two  years  with  honor 
to  himself  and  credit  to  the  institution.  The  infirm- 
ity of  years  was  now  resting  upon  his  grandfather, 
the  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  so  that  he  felt  the  need 
of  an  assistant  in  his  pastorate  at  Northampton. 
To  this  position  young  Edwards  was  called,  and 
he  was  duly  ordained  as  colleague  with  his  grand- 
father on  the  15th  of  February,  1727.  Two 
years  later,  upon  the  death  of  the  latter,  he  succeeded 
to  the  full  pastoral  office  in  what  was  then  the 
strongest  church  in  Massachusetts  outside  of  Boston. 
A  short  time  after  his  ordination  he  was  joined 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Sarah  Pierrepont  of  New 
Haven,  who  was  then  but  seventeen  years  of  age. 
The  daughter  of  a  minister,  she  was  a  young  woman 
of  accomplished  education  and  marked  personal 
beauty.  The  home  life  of  this  couple  bordered 
closely  upon  the  ideal.  When  he  visited  them 
George  Whitefield  was  so  impressed  by  their  con- 
jugal felicity  that  he  wrote,  "She  is  a  woman 
adorned  with  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  and  talked 
so  feelingly  and  solidly  of  the  things  of  God,  and 
seemed  to  be  such  a  helpmeet  to  her  husband,  that 


24  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

she  caused  me  to  renew  those  prayers  which  for 
some  months  I  have  put  up  to  God,  that  he  would 
send  me  a  daughter  of  Abraham  to  be  my  wife." 

For  some  months  Edwards  labored  at  Northamp- 
ton without  success,  but  in  1733  a  change  in  the 
attitude  and  demeanor  of  the  youth  was  apparent. 
There  was  a  disposition  to  be  guided  by  pastoral 
teaching  and  advice,  and  a  few  months  later  the 
revival  commenced.  1740  is  the  commonly  accepted 
date  for  the  Great  Awakening,  but  in  reality  it 
commenced  in  New  England  in  1734  and  continued, 
with  some  intermissions  to  be  sure,  for  a  period 
of  eight  years. 

In  the  spring  of  1734,  the  minds  of  the  people 
were  seriously  turned  towards  the  consideration  of 
eternal  things  by  the  untimely  deaths  of  two  young 
persons  in  the  community.  Certain  sermons  also, 
which  Mr.  Edwards  preached  about  that  time  on 
justification  by  faith,  the  justice  of  God  in  the  dam- 
nation of  sinners,  the  excellency  of  Christ,  and  the 
duty  of  pressing  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  greatly 
deepened  the  religious  impressions  of  his  hearers. 

In  these  sermons  the  doctrine  of  God's  sover- 
eignty was  strongly  insisted  upon.  Through  the 
fall  in  Adam  man  had  lost  God's  favor  and  hence- 
forth had  no  claim  upon  his  mercy.  Man  is  a 
sinner  by  birth  as  well  as  by  choice  and  is  possessed 
of  no  moral  power  of  his  own  wherewith  he  may 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  25 

turn  to  God  or  please  him.  God  is  under  no  obli- 
gation to  save  anyone.  "His  sovereignty  is  involved 
in  his  freedom  to  take  whom  he  pleases,  and  to 
leave  whom  he  pleases  to  perish."  Special  grace 
is  communicated  to  such  as  he  has  chosen  to  salva- 
tion, but  all  others  are  left  to  die  in  their  sins. 
Satisfaction  must  be  made  for  the  sins  of  those  who 
are  foreordained  to  eternal  life.  Such  satisfaction 
was  made  in  the  vicarious  sacrifice  on  the  cross 
by  Jesus  Christ,  who  suffered  thereby  a  penalty 
equivalent  to  the  eternal  sufferings  of  the  elect, 
and  thus  their  debt  was  literally  paid.  By  the 
imputation  of  Christ's  righteousness  to  the  believ- 
ing soul  salvation  was  effected. 

Such  in  brief  were  the  elements  of  Edwards' 
theology.  The  influence  of  such  doctrines  upon 
the  minds  of  those  who  had  contented  themselves 
with  a  barren  morality  can  better  be  imagined  than 
described.  Men  were  brought  face  to  face  with 
their  sins  and  their  indifference  to  the  claims  of 
religion.  False  hopes  were  brushed  aside,  and  the 
unconverted  were  made  to  realize  that  works  alone 
would  never  save  them.  They  were  impressed  with 
the  idea  that  their  only  hope  of  salvation  was  in 
the  mercy  of  God.  As  a  result  the  hearts  and 
consciences  of  men  were  deeply  moved.  Within 
a  comparatively  short  space  of  time  evidences  of 
converting  grace  began  to  appear.     In  the  latter 


26  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

part  of  December,  1734,  five  or  six  persons  in 
Edwards'  congregation  were  converted.  Among 
them  was  a  gay  young  woman  of  somewhat  ques- 
tionable character,  who  had  been  a  leader  in  fri- 
volity among  the  young.  On  account  of  her  past 
reputation  Edwards  was  fearful  lest  her  conversion 
should  create  prejudice  and  bring  the  work  into 
disrepute,  but  his  fears  were  groundless  and  quite 
the  reverse  took  place. 

"Presently  upon  this,"  wrote  Mr.  Edwards,  "a 
great  and  earnest  concern  about  the  great  things  of 
religion,  and  the  eternal  world,  became  universal 
in  all  parts  of  the  town,  and  among  persons  of 
all  degrees  and  all  ages;  the  noise  among  the  dry 
bones  waxed  louder  and  louder;  all  other  talk  but 
about  spiritual  and  eternal  things  was  soon  thrown 
by;  all  the  conversation  in  all  companies,  and  upon 
all  occasions,  was  upon  these  things  only,  unless 
so  much  as  was  necessary  for  people  carrying  on 
their  ordinary  secular  business.  Other  discourse 
than  of  the  things  of  religion  would  scarcely  be 
tolerated  in  any  company.  The  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple were  wonderfully  taken  off  from  the  world;  it 
was  treated  amongst  us  as  a  thing  of  very  little 
consequence;  they  seem  to  follow  worldly  business 
more  as  a  part  of  their  duty  than  from  any  dis- 
position they  had  to  it.  .  .  .  But  though  the 
people  did  not  ordinarily  neglect  their  worldly  busi- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  27 

ness,  yet  there  was  the  reverse  of  what  commonly 
is :  religion  was  with  all  sorts  the  great  concern 
and  the  world  was  only  a  thing  by  the  by.  The 
only  thing  in  their  view  was  to  get  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  and  every  one  appeared  pressing  into  it. 
.  .  .  There  was  scarcely  a  single  person  in  the 
town,  either  old  or  young,  that  was  left  uncon- 
cerned about  the  great  things  of  the  eternal  world. 
Those  that  were  wont  to  be  vainest  and  loosest, 
and  those  that  had  been  most  disposed  to  think 
and  speak  slightly  of  vital  and  experimental  relig- 
ion, were  now  subject  to  great  awakenings.  And 
the  work  of  conversion  was  carried  on  in  a  most 
astonishing  manner,  and  increased  more  and  more; 
souls  did,  as  it  were,  come  by  flocks  to  Jesus  Christ. 
From  day  to  day,  for  many  months  together,  might 
be  seen  evident  instances  of  sinners  brought  out  of 
darkness  into  marvelous  light,  and  delivered  out  of 
a  horrible  pit,  and  from  the  miry  clay,  and  set  upon 
a  rock,  with  a  new  song  of  praise  to  God  in  their 
mouths."* 

The  results  of  this  revival  were  most  gracious. 
Northampton  then  had  a  population  numbering 
about  eleven  hundred.  Mr.  Edwards  expressed  the 
hope  that  above  three  hundred  souls  had  been  con- 
verted in  half  a  year.  Persons  of  all  ages,  from 
children  of  tender  years  to  those  who  had  reached 

*  Edwards'  Works,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  233-235. 


28  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

extreme  old  age,  were  gathered  into  the  fold.    More 
than  a  hundred  were  received  into  the  church  before 
one  communion.     Eighty  were  received  at  one  time, 
"whose  appearance,  when  they  presented  themselves 
together  to  make  an  open,   explicit  profession  of 
Christianity,  was  very  affecting  to  the  congrega- 
tion."    Sixty  more  were  received  before  the  next 
observance  of  the  Lord's  supper.     All  these  gave 
"sufficient  evidence  of  the  conversion  of  their  souls," 
although  a  credible  confession  of  their  faith  was 
not  then  required  for  admission  to  the  Lord's  table. 
Such  a  work  could  not  be  hid.  The  revival  spread 
to  other  communities,  and  many  came  to  examine 
personally  this  remarkable  work  of  grace.     Even- 
tually the  revival  extended  to  South  Hadley,  Suf- 
field,  Sunderland,  Deerfield,  Hatfield,  West  Spring- 
field, Long  Meadow,  Enfield,   Hadley  Old  Town, 
and  Northfield,  in  Massachusetts.     In  Connecticut 
the  revival  commenced  at  Windsor  not  far  from  the 
time   that   it  began   at   Northampton.      Thence   it 
spread  to  East  Windsor,  Coventry,  Lebanon,  Dur- 
ham,   Stratford,    Ripton,    New    Haven,    Guilford, 
Mansfield,     Tolland,     Hebron,     Bolton,     Preston, 
Groton  and  Woodbury.    Communities  in  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  were  also  visited  with   spiritual 
quickenings.     Before  the  revival  wave  had  spent 
its  force  it  was  estimated  that  more  than  a  hundred 
towns  had  been  blessed. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  29 

As  the  news  of  this  revival  was  circulated  it 
awakened  a  lively  interest  on  the  part  of  the  friends 
of  vital  religion.  Many  wished  to  learn  an  authentic 
account  of  it,  and  in  response  to  a  request  from 
Dr.  Colman  of  Boston,  Jonathan  Edwards  wrote 
a  "Narrative  of  Surprising  Conversions."  Dr. 
Colman  forwarded  the  manuscript  to  Drs.  Watts 
and  Guise  of  London,  by  whom  it  was  published. 
This  little  volume  received  an  extensive  circulation 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  A  copy  fell  into 
the  hands  of  John  Wesley,  who  read  it  on  a  walk 
from  London  to  Oxford.  He  wrote  in  his  Journal, 
"Surely  this  is  the  Lord's  doing  and  it  is  marvelous 
in  our  eyes." 

In  1 739-1 740  there  were  manifestations  of  revival 
power,  on  a  less  extended  scale,  among  the  Presby- 
terians of  New  Jersey.  Rev.  Jonathan  Dickinson, 
who  afterwards  became  president  of  Princeton, 
wrote  of  hopeful  awakenings  at  Newark  and  in  his 
own  parish  at  Elizabethtown.  Of  the  latter  he 
said :  "Numbers  daily  flocked  to  their  pastor  for 
advice  in  their  eternal  concerns.  More  came  to 
see  him  on  this  errand  in  three  months  than  in 
thirty  years  before."* 

Not  long  afterwards  a  revival  of  unusual  power 
commenced  among  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians 
at  New  Londonderry,  Pennsylvania,  under  the  min- 


Sprague's  Revival  Lectures,  Appendix,  p.  284. 


30  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

istry  of  Rev.  Samuel  Blair.  This  revival  was 
entirely  independent  of  any  which  had  hitherto 
occurred.  During  an  absence  of  Mr.  Blair  in  East 
Jersey,  in  March,  1740,  and  under  the  preaching  of 
a  neighboring  minister  there  were  such  manifesta- 
tions of  concern  that  the  people  could  not  restrain 
their  tears,  and  audible  groans  were  heard  through- 
out the  house.  Upon  the  return  of  their  pastor 
similar  manifestations  took  place,  so  that  he  was 
obliged  to  request  them  to  restrain  themselves,  as 
much  as  possible,  from  making  any  noise  that 
would  hinder  others  from  hearing  what  was  spoken, 
and  afterwards  he  often  had  occasion  to  repeat  the 
same  counsel.  The  number  of  awakened  increased 
rapidly,  and  he  wrote  that  "there  was  scarcely  a 
sermon  or  lecture  preached  here  through  that  whole 
summer  but  there  were  manifest  evidences  of 
impressions  on  the  hearers;  and  many  times  the 
impressions  were  very  great  and  general.  .  .  . 
In  some  time  many  of  the  convinced  and  distressed 
afforded  very  hopeful,  satisfying  evidence  that  the 
Lord  had  brought  them  to  true  closure  with  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  their  distresses  and  fears  had  been 
in  a  great  measure  removed  in  a  right  gospel  way 
by  believing  in  the  Son  of  God."* 

A  preparation  for  the  Great  Awakening  in  the 
Middle  Colonies,  and  a  potent  factor  in  promoting 

*  Tracy's  Great  Awakening,  pp.  26-29. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  31 

revivals,  was  the  famous  "Log  College"  at  Nesham- 
iny,  Pa.  This  institution,  which  was  the  legitimate 
forerunner  of  Princeton,  afforded  ministerial  train- 
ing for  the  Tennents  (Gilbert  and  his  three  broth- 
ers), Samuel  Blair,  John  Rowland,  Samuel  Finley, 
William  Robinson  and  other  influential  revival 
preachers.  The  "Log  College"  was  founded  about 
1730  by  William  Tennent,  Sr.,  who  had  emigrated 
from  Ireland  to  America  in  1716.  He  was  origi- 
nally an  Episcopalian,  but  in  17 18  he  united  with 
the  Presbyterian  Synod,  and  within  a  few  years  had 
come  to  exert  a  far-reaching  influence  in  that  denom- 
ination. Tennent  and  his  four  sons  were  ardent 
friends  of  the  revival.  So  active  were  they  in  its 
promotion,  and  so  powerful  was  their  influence, 
that  in  the  region  in  which  they  labored  it  was 
known  as  the  Tennent  Revival. 

The  revivals  occurring  in  New  England  and  the 
adjoining  colonies  served  as  a  preparation  for  the 
coming  of  the  great  English  evangelist  and  prince 
of  pulpit  orators,  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  so  that 
the  minds  of  men  were  as  soil  for  the  sower,  when 
he  came  to  scatter  the  seeds  of  gospel  truth,  which 
were  destined  to  bring  forth  fruit,  "some  thirty, 
and  some  sixty,  and  some  an  hundred-fold." 

The  life  of  Whitefield  reads  like  a  romance.  He 
was  born  at  Bell  Inn,  in  the  city  of  Gloucester, 
England,  December  16th,  1714.     His  father,  who 


32  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

had  been  a  wine  merchant  and  afterwards  an  inn- 
keeper, died  when  the  future  evangelist  was  but 
two  years  of  age.  Notwithstanding  her  limited 
resources  his  mother  determined  to  give  him  every 
advantage  within  her  power.  As  a  youth  he  was 
sent  to  the  Grammar  School  of  St.  Mary  de  Crypt, 
and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  he  entered  Oxford  Uni- 
versity, where  he  secured  a  position  as  servitor 
in  Pembroke  College.  With  the  assistance  thus 
afforded  and  through  the  kindness  of  friends  he  was 
enabled  to  reach  the  end  of  his  three  years'  residence 
at  college  with  but  twenty-five  pounds  indebtedness. 
Up  to  the  time  of  his  entrance  at  Oxford  he 
was  inclined  to  be  wayward  and  careless,  but  upon 
commencing  his  college  duties  he  altered  his  mode 
of  life  and  refusing  to  join  in  the  revelry,  which 
was  all  too  prevalent,  he  won  for  himself  the  repu- 
tation of  being  a  "singular,  odd  fellow."  Circum- 
stances brought  him  into  contact  with  the  "Holy 
Club,"  or  "Methodists,"  as  they  were  called  by  their 
fellow  students.  A  congenial  companionship  was 
thus  afforded,  and  although  he  was  as  yet  uncon- 
verted he  hoped  through  the  influence  of  these  asso- 
ciations to  enter  upon  a  more  satisfying  religious 
experience.  For  the  want  of  better  instruction  he 
indulged  in  such  austerities  as  to  bring  upon  him- 
self a  severe  illness.  But  at  length  the  light  came, 
and  he  was  the  first  of  the  Oxford  Methodists  to 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  33 

experience  conversion.  Soon  after  he  left  the  Uni- 
versity, and  on  June  20th,  1736,  was  solemnly 
ordained  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  by  Bishop 
Benson. 

From  his  very  entrance  upon  the  ministry  White- 
field  distinguished  himself  as  an  orator  of  unusual 
power.  Of  his  first  sermon  a  complaint  was  car- 
ried to  his  bishop  that  it  had  driven  fifteen  persons 
mad,  whereupon  that  worthy  replied  that  "he  hoped 
the  madness  might  not  be  forgotten  before  the  next 
Sunday."  This  early  effort  was  an  earnest  of  the 
mighty  triumphs  he  was  to  win  during  his  more 
than  thirty  years  of  gospel  "ranging,"  as  he  was 
wont  to  term  his  itinerary  labors.  His  sermons 
appealed  to  all  classes.  The  effects  of  his  preaching 
could  be  seen  in  the  white  gutters  made  by  tears 
coursing  down  the  cheeks  of  the  colliers  who  flocked 
to  hear  him  at  Moorfields,  while  in  after  years  such 
critics  as  Franklin,  Garret,  and  Hume  testified  to 
the  wonderful  power  of  his  oratory. 

While  Whitefield  was  yet  a  student  at  Oxford, 
the  Wesleys  had  gone  to  the  infant  colony  of 
Georgia.  The  glowing  accounts  which  they  gave 
of  their  missionary  labors  fired  him  with  a  desire 
to  join  them.  He  declined  a  lucrative  curacy  which 
was  offered  him  in  London.  Charles  Wesley  in 
the  meanwhile  had  returned  to  England  to  seek 
additional  laborers  for  that  field  and  through  further 


34  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

correspondence  with  John  Wesley,  Whitefield  was 
influenced  to  go  to  that  distant  mission.  Judged 
from  a  purely  human  standpoint  such  a  course 
seemed  exceedingly  ill-advised.  On  embarking  for 
Georgia  he  was  detained  at  the  Downs  by  contrary 
winds,  and  it  so  happened  that  the  very  wind  which 
carried  Whitefield  out  of  the  Downs  brought  John 
Wesley  in.  While  his  vessel  was  still  in  the  offing 
he  received  the  following  message  from  Wesley : 
"When  I  saw  God  by  the  wind  which  was  carrying 
you  out  brought  me  in,  I  asked  counsel  of  God. 
His  answer  you  have  enclosed.''  Wesley  decided 
the  question  by  lot,  and  the  answer  enclosed  was 
a  slip  of  paper  bearing  the  words  "Let  him  return 
to  England."  Believing,  however,  that  his  mission 
was  a  divine  one  Whitefield  continued  his  journey 
to  Georgia. 

Before  leaving  England,  Charles  Wesley  had 
broached  to  him  the  propriety  of  establishing  an 
orphan  house  at  Savannah.  The  unwisdom  of  such 
a  project  for  a  colony  barely  in  its  infancy  would 
seem  to  have  been  apparent,  and  yet  had  it  not 
been  for  this  orphanage  Whitefield  doubtless  never 
would  have  made  America  the  chief  scene  of  his 
labors,  nor  is  it  at  all  likely  that  his  remarkable 
evangelizing  tours  ever  would  have  been  under- 
taken, since  they  were  made  chiefly  for  the  purpose 
of  raising  funds  for  the  orphan  house  at  Savannah. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  35 

After  remaining  three  months  in  Georgia  he 
returned  to  England  to  seek  priest's  orders  and  to 
collect  funds  for  his  orphanage.  The  interest  which 
his  preaching  awakened,  provoked  certain  of  the 
clergy  to  hostility.  The  bishop  of  London  wrote 
a  pastoral  letter  warning  the  people  against  him. 
Notwithstanding  the  growing  opposition  he  went 
forward  in  the  path  of  duty,  proclaiming  the  tid 
ings  of  salvation  wherever  opportunity  was  afforded. 
Once  while  preaching  at  Bermondsey  Church,  with 
an  audience  of  a  thousand  on  the  outside  who  were 
unable  to  gain  admittance,  he  said,  "I  had  a  strong 
inclination  to  go  out  and  preach  to  them  from  one 
of  the  tombstones.  This  first  put  me  upon  thinking 
of  preaching  out  doors.  I  mentioned  it  to  some 
friends,  who  looked  upon  it  as  'a  mad  notion! 
However,  we  knelt  down  and  prayed  that  nothing 
might  be  done  rashly."  The  churches  being  closed 
against  him  at  Bath  and  Bristol,  his  heart  went 
out  to  the  neglected  colliers  of  Kingswood. 
Although  the  churches  were  denied  him,  the  com- 
mons were  open.  On  February  17,  1739,  he 
preached  to  two  hundred  colliers  on  Rose  Green. 
He  said,  "I  thought  it  might  be  doing  the  service 
of  my  creator,  who  had  a  mountain  for  a  pulpit 
and  the  heavens  for  a  sounding  board;  and  who, 
when  his  gospel  was  refused  by  the  Jews,  sent  his 
servants  into  the  highways  and  hedges."     Hence- 


36  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

forth  field-preaching  was  to  be  a  feature  of  his 
work,  and  in  this  way  he  was  able  to  reach  throng- 
ing multitudes  whom  no  church  could  accommodate. 
Having  collected  a  thousand  pounds  for  his 
orphanage  and  having  been  ordained  to  the  priest- 
hood, Whitefield  returned  to  America,  reaching 
Lewiston,  Pa.,  October  30,  1739.  Thence  he  jour- 
neyed to  Philadelphia.  This  was  his  first  visit  to 
the  Northern  Colonies.  Great  multitudes  flocked  to 
hear  him.  No  building  being  sufficiently  large  to 
accommodate  the  people,  he  frequently  preached 
from  the  gallery  of  the  court  house  on  Market 
Street.  It  was  said  that  "his  voice  was  distinctly 
heard  on  the  Jersey  shore,  and  so  distinct  was  his 
speech  that  every  word  was  understood  on  board 
of  a  shallop  at  Market  Street  wharf,  a  distance  of 
upwards  of  four  hundred  feet  from  the  court  house. 
All  the  intermediate  space  was  crowded  with  his 
hearers."*  From  Philadelphia  he  was  invited  to 
New  York.  Here  he  found  all  the  churches  closed 
against  him,  except  the  Presbyterian  Church.  By 
day  he  preached  to  great  multitudes  in  the  fields, 
and  at  night  to  crowded  auditories  in  the  church. 
It  was  said  that  "he  left  New  York  under  a  deep 
and  universal  concern.  Many  were  greatly 
affected." 


*  Gillies'  Memoirs  of  Whitefield,  p.  43. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING  37 

On  his  trip  to  and  from  New  York,  he  preached 
at  Elizabethtown,  Maidenhead,  Abington,  Nesham- 
iny,  Burlington  and  New  Brunswick.  An  incident 
of  this  journey  was  his  meeting  with  Rev.  Gilbert 
Tennent,  the  stern  revival  preacher  of  New  Bruns- 
wick. On  his  return  he  resumed  his  labors  in 
Philadelphia.  Prayer  meetings  were  instituted  in 
various  parts  of  the  city  and  daily  preaching  ser- 
vices were  sustained  for  many  months. 

From  Philadelphia  Whitefield  journeyed  over- 
land to  Savannah,  preaching  at  Wilmington,  New- 
castle, Annapolis,  Williamsburg,  Charlestown  and 
other  points  along  the  way.  After  having  laid  the 
foundations  of  his  orphan  house,  he  returned  to  the 
city  of  brotherly  love,  preaching  there  and  at  the 
surrounding  communities  with  remarkable  results. 
The  citizens  of  Philadelphia  proposed  to  build  for 
him  a  large  church,  but  he  declined  the  offer,  pre- 
ferring to  devote  his  energies  to  itinerary  evan- 
gelistic labors.  Of  the  effects  of  this  visit  Benjamin 
Franklin  said :  "The  multitudes  of  all  sects  and 
denominations  that  attended  his  sermons  were  enor- 
mous, and  it  was  a  matter  of  speculation  with  me 
to  observe  the  influence  of  his  oratory  on  his  hearers 
and  how  much  they  respected  him,  notwithstanding 
his  common  abuse  of  them,  assuring  them  that  they 
were  naturally  half  beasts  and  half  devils.  It  was 
wonderful  to  see  the  change  soon  made  in  the  man- 


38  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

ners  of  our  inhabitants.  From  being  thoughtless 
and  indifferent  about  religion,  it  seemed  as  if  all 
the  world  was  growing  religious;  so  that  one  could 
not  walk  through  the  town  in  an  evening  without 
hearing  psalms  sung  in  different  families  in  every 
street."* 

Whitefield' s  next  journey  northward  was  to  New 
England,  whither  he  had  been  invited  by  several 
prominent  ministers  and  laymen.  It  was  confidently 
expected  that  his  coming  would  be  attended  with 
showers  of  refreshing  grace.  Says  Tracy:  "There 
is  even  reason  to  suspect  that  the  manifestation  of 
a  revival,  which  was  already  secretly  at  work  in 
men's  hearts,  was  kept  back  for  several  months, 
by  the  general  feeling  that  it  would  take  place  when 
Mr.  Whitefield  came  and  not  before."  It  was  not 
strange  therefore  that  his  labors  should  have  been 
attended  with  results  of  unusual  magnitude. 

Whitefield  reached  Newport,  September  14,  1740, 
and  proceeded  by  way  of  Bristol  to  Boston,  where 
he  remained  four  weeks,  preaching  in  the  churches 
of  Drs.  Colman  and  Sewall,  and  also  upon  the 
common,  where  vast  throngs  of  people  flocked  to 
hear  him.  During  his  stay  at  Boston,  he  visited 
many  of  the  surrounding  towns,  including  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  preached  before  the  students  of 
Harvard  College.    He  also  made  a  trip  eastward  as 

*  Billingsley's  Life  of  Whitefield,  p.  152. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  39 

far  as  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  and  York,  Me.,  preaching 
at  several  points  along  the  way. 

Of  the  manner  of  Whitefield's  preaching  at  this 
time  a  contemporary  writer  has  given  the  follow- 
ing description :  "He  loudly  proclaims  all  men  by 
nature  to  be  under  sin,  and  obnoxious  to  the  wrath 
of  God.  He  maintains  the  absolute  necessity  of 
supernatural  grace  to  bring  men  out  of  this  state. 
He  asserts  the  righteousness  of  Christ  alone  the 
cause  of  justification  of  a  sinner;  that  this  is 
received  by  faith ;  that  faith  is  the  gift  of  God ;  that 
where  faith  is  wrought  it  brings  the  sinner  under 
the  deepest  sense  of  unworthiness,  to  the  footstool 
of  sovereign  grace  to  accept  of  mercy  as  the  free 
gift  of  God  only  for  Christ's  sake.  He  asserts  the 
absolute  necessity  of  the  new  birth ;  that  this  new 
production  is  solely  the  work  of  God's  blessed  spirit; 
that  wherever  it  is  wrought  it  is  a  permanent,  abid- 
ing principle,  and  that  the  gates  of  hell  shall  never 
prevail  against  it."* 

The  effect  of  his  preaching  began  at  once  to  be 
felt.  Inquirers  flocked  to  the  great  preacher  in  such 
numbers  that  he  scarcely  had  time  to  eat  or  sleep, 
and  a  revival  was  inaugurated  that  continued  for 
eighteen  months  and  the  influence  of  which  was 
felt  throughout  New  England  and  the  Northern 
Colonies.      On    October    12,    Whitefield    preached 

*  Quoted  from  Dunning's  Congregationalists,  p.  247. 


40  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

his  farewell  sermon  to  an  audience  of  nearly  thirty 
thousand.  Belcher,  the  royal  governor,  kissed  him 
farewell,  and  with  tears  in  his  eyes  begged  an  inter- 
est in  his  prayers. 

From  Boston  he  proceeded  by  way  of  Concord, 
Worcester,  Brookfield,  and  other  towns  to  North- 
ampton, whence  he  journeyed  to  New  York  through 
Connecticut,  preaching,  as  was  his  custom,  at  various 
points  along  the  way.  At  New  Haven  he  tarried 
three  days.  In  an  address  before  the  students  of 
Yale  College,  he  warned  them  of  "the  dreadful 
ill  consequences  of  an  unconverted  ministry." 
Among  those  who  were  deeply  impressed  by  his 
words  was  Samuel  Hopkins,  who  in  after  years 
became  one  of  the  most  noted  advocates  of  the 
Edwardean  or  New  England  theology  and  who 
affected  profoundly  the  theological  thinking  of  this 
country.  Both  houses  of  the  legislature  adjourned 
to  hear  the  noted  preacher.  Governor  Talcott 
embraced  him,  and  gave  God  thanks  for  such 
refreshings  on  the  way  to  his  rest. 

Having  preached  three  days  in  New  York  he 
resumed  his  journey  southward,  reaching  Charles- 
town,  December  i,  1740.  At  New  Brunswick, 
where  he  had  conferred  with  William  Tennent  and 
others,  it  was  decided  that  Gilbert  Tennent  should 
go  to  Boston  to  carry  on  the  work  which  had  there 
begun.     Tennent  at  first  demurred  because  of  Irs 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  41 

incompetency  for  the  work,  but  finally  after  prayer- 
ful consideration  consented  to  undertake  the  task. 
Gilbert  Tennent  was  a  powerful  but  less  polished 
preacher  than  Whitefield.  Prince  said  of  him :  "He 
seemed  to  have  no  regard  to  please  the  eyes  of  his 
hearers  with  agreeable  gesture,  nor  their  ears  with 
delivery,  nor  their  fancy  with  language;  but  to 
aim  directly  at  their  hearts  and  consciences,  to  lay 
open  their  ruinous  delusions,  show  them  their 
numerous,  secret,  hypocritical  shifts  in  religion,  and 
drive  them  out  of  every  deceitful  refuge  wherein 
they  made  themselves  easy  with  the  form  of  godli- 
ness without  the  power."*  He  remained  in  Boston 
and  the  vicinity  two  months  and  a  half.  Multi- 
tudes of  all  ages  and  conditions  were  awakened 
under  his  powerful  preaching.  Large  numbers 
united  with  the  various  churches,  and  many  more 
would  have  done  so  had  he  not  discouraged  them 
from  approaching  the  Lord's  table  without  satis- 
factory evidences  of  conversion. 

After  his  departure  the  religious  interest  still 
further  increased.  In  three  months'  time  six  hun- 
dred inquirers  went  to  Mr.  Cooper  for  spiritual 
consolation,  and  more  than  a  thousand  visited  Mr. 
Webb  on  a  like  errand.  For  many  months  the 
religious  interest  was  at  its  highest  tension,  not 
only  in  Boston,  but  throughout  New  England. 
During  the  years  1741  and  1742  powerful  revivals 

*  Tracy's  Great  Awakening,  p.  115. 


42  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

were  experienced  at  Natick,  Wrentham,  Bridge- 
water,  Taunton,  Middleborough,  Halifax,  Glouces- 
ter, and  Reading  in  Massachusetts;  at  Lyme,  En- 
field, New  Haven,  and  other  towns  in  Connecticut; 
at  Portsmouth  and  Newcastle  in  New  Hampshire; 
and  at  Westerly,  Rhode  Island.  Multitudes  of  other 
places  throughout  the  Northern  Colonies  were 
visited  with  revivals  of  more  or  less  power. 

In  some  of  these  places  the  revivals  were  occa- 
sioned by  the  visits  of  Tennent  and  Whitefield,  but 
elsewhere  such  awakenings  seem  to  have  been 
brought  about  independently  of  the  efforts  of  visit- 
ing ministers  or  evangelists. 

The  scope  of  this  work  will  not  admit  of  a  con- 
sideration of  these  numerous  revivals,  but  the  char- 
acteristics and  physical  manifestations  of  the  revival 
in  the  West  Parish  of  Lyme,  Conn.,  were  so  notable 
as  to  deserve  special  mention.  Rev.  Jonathan  Par- 
sons, who  was  pastor  at  that  time,  was  an  ardent 
friend  of  the  Awakening  and  one  of  its  most  effi- 
cient promoters.  Gilbert  Tennent  had  preached  at 
Lyme  on  his  journey  from  Boston,  but  with  scarcely 
any  visible  results.  Soon,  however,  there  were  indi- 
cations of  deep  concern  and  a  revival  of  unusual 
power  commenced.  Mr.  Parsons,  under  whose 
ministrations  the  work  was  carried  on,  in  describing 
the  effects  of  his  preaching,  wrote  that  "Many  had 
their  countenances  changed;  their  thoughts  seemed 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  43 

to  trouble  them,  so  that  their  loins  were  loosed, 
and  their  knees  smote  one  against  another.  Great 
numbers  cried  out  aloud  in  the  anguish  of  their 
souls.  Several  stout  men  fell  as  though  a  cannon 
had  been  discharged,  and  a  ball  had  made  its  way 
through  their  hearts.  Some  young  women  were 
thrown  into  hysteric  fits.  ...  I  was  commonly 
obliged  to  make  several  stops  of  considerable  length, 
and  entreat  them,  if  possible,  to  restrain  the  flood 
of  affection,  that  so  they  might  attend  to  further 
truths  which  were  to  be  offered,  and  others  might 
not  be  disaffected.  Some  would  after  a  while 
recover  themselves,  and  others,  I  am  satisfied,  could 
not."* 

Revs.  Jonathan  Edwards  of  Northampton,  Mass., 
Jonathan  Parsons  of  Lyme,  Eleazar  Wheelock  of 
Lebanon,  Benjamin  Pomeroy  of  Hebron,  Joseph 
Bellamy  of  Bethlehem,  and  John  Graham  of  South- 
bury  in  Connecticut,  and  others  did  not  confine 
their  labors  to  their  own  parishes,  but  were  often 
called  upon  to  assist  other  pastors  in  special  ser- 
vices, and  went  from  place  to  place,  much  after  the 
manner  of  modern  evangelists,  arousing  the  impeni- 
tent, awakening  the  indifferent,  causing  formal 
church  members  to  experience  great  searchings  of 
heart,  instructing  multitudes  in  the  way  of  salva- 
tion,   and    otherwise    promoting   the    revival    until 

*  Tracy's  Great  Awakening,  p.  138  ff. 


44  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

through  their  efforts  and  the  efforts  of  a  host  of 
faithful  pastors,  all  New  England  was  aflame  with 
a  revival  fervor,  the  far-reaching  results  of  which 
no  one  can  estimate.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  by  the 
end  of  1742  there  was  scarcely  a  parish  which  had 
not  in  some  measure  enjoyed  a  share  in  the  fruits 
of  the  Great  Awakening. 

In  the  Middle  Colonies,  under  the  preaching  of 
the  Tennents,  Blair,  Rowland,  Finley,  Dickinson, 
and  others,  similar  results  were  accomplished.  In 
these  Colonies,  the  revival  was  carried  on  and  pro- 
moted chiefly  by  the  Presbyterians,  as  a  consequence 
of  which  the  churches  of  this  denomination  multi- 
plied with  great  rapidity  and  received  continual 
accessions  to  their  membership. 

In  the  South  the  revival  did  not  commence  until 
1743,  and  in  Virginia  the  work  was  carried  on 
principally  by  laymen  in  the  face  of  more  or  less 
opposition  from  the  Established  Church.  Here  and 
there  throughout  the  province  were  to  be  found 
men  and  women  hungering  for  the  bread  of  life, 
who  had  become  dissatisfied  with  the  abuses  of  the 
state  church. 

At  Hanover  there  was  a  small  company  of  such, 
who,  when  they  learned  of  the  effects  of  Mr.  White- 
field's  preaching  at  Williamsburg  in  1740,  were 
very  desirous  of  hearing  him,  but  since  he  had 
already  left  the  colony  no  opportunity  was  afforded 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  45 

them.  During  the  year  1743,  Mr.  Samuel  Morris, 
one  of  their  number  came  into  possession  of  a  small 
volume  of  Whitefield's  sermons.  He  invited  his 
neighbors  to  his  home  and  read  them  in  their  hear- 
ing. Meeting  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  in  this  man- 
ner, their  numbers  gradually  outgrew  the  dimen- 
sions of  a  private  dwelling  and  they  resolved  to 
build  a  meeting-house  suited  to  their  purpose.  Mr. 
Morris  received  invitations  from  several  communi- 
ties in  the  surrounding  country  to  read  from  the 
precious  volume.  Thus  the  revival  was  propagated 
to  the  spiritual  quickening  of  many  throughout  that 
region.  At  length  they  were  visited  by  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Robinson,  a  graduate  of  the  "Log  College," 
who  devoted  his  labors  to  the  neglected  districts 
among  the  new  settlements  of  Pennsylvania,  Vir- 
ginia, and  North  Carolina.  Under  his  ministrations 
a  fresh  impetus  was  given  to  the  revival  and  num- 
bers were  converted.  After  Robinson's  departure 
Morris  continued  his  practice  of  reading  sermons. 
The  communities  in  the  vicinity,  to  which  he  made 
occasional  visits,  were  greatly  profited  thereby,  and 
they  in  turn  erected  meeting-houses  and  chose 
readers  from  among  themselves. 

Such  in  brief  was  the  rise  of  English  Presby- 
terianism  in  Virginia.  From  time  to  time  brief 
visits  were  paid  them  by  other  ministers,  among 
whom  were  Revs.  Gilbert  Tennent,  Samuel  Finley, 


46  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

William  Tennent,  Samuel  Blair,  and  finally  the 
noted  evangelist  George  Whitefield.  These  visits 
were  attended  with  excellent  results  and  many  were 
added  to  their  numbers.  But  persecutions  and 
seasons  of  trial  awaited  them.  Presbyterianism  had 
been  tolerated  among  the  Scotch-Irish  along  the 
frontier,  but  no  such  leniency  was  extended  to  those 
who  had  renounced  Episcopalianism  in  the  heart 
of  the  English  settlements  of  the  province.  They 
were  brought  into  conflict  with  civil  authority  and 
harassed  in  many  ways.  Notwithstanding  these 
embarrassments,  the  feeble  companies  of  believers 
grew  and  churches  multiplied,  until  at  length  Sam- 
uel Davies  came  to  them  to  minister  statedly. 
Within  a  short  time,  through  his  influence,  seven 
churches  were  granted  licensure  by  law,  to  all 
of  which  he  ministered,  dividing  his  time  be- 
tween them.  Thus  the  revival  was  promoted, 
Presbyterianism  was  caused  to  flourish,  and  the 
work  went  forward  with  uninterrupted  successes 
until  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary 
struggle. 

In  Maryland,  the  Carolinas,  and  Georgia,  the 
revival  received  its  impulse  largely  through  the 
visits  and  preaching  of  George  Whitefield. 
Throughout  the  scattered  settlements  of  these  col- 
onies, conversions  in  proportion  to  the  population 
were  numerous,  and  as  in  Virginia,  the  revival  con- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  47 

tinued  for  several  years  until  it  was  brought  to 
a  close  by  the  War  for  Independence. 

In  the  various  revivals  which  combined  to  make 
the  Great  Awakening,  there  was  little  or  no  depen- 
dence upon  external  measures  as  a  means  for  pro- 
moting a  work  of  grace.  Indeed,  any  great  reliance 
upon  means  and  measures  would  have  been  esteemed 
inconsistent  with  the  prevailing  conceptions  of  God's 
sovereignty,  by  which  he  was  believed  to  accomplish 
his  ends  and  purposes  independently  of  man's  agency 
or  co-operation.  This,  however,  did  not  preclude 
the  idea  of  prayer  or  its  importance.  In  searching 
the  records  of  the  Great  Awakening,  we  find  that 
its  leaders  were  not  only  men  of  prayer,  but  that 
their  hands  were  stayed  up  by  the  prayers  of  a  pray- 
ing people.  There  were  no  protracted  efforts  to  get 
up  a  revival.  Except  in  rare  instances  the  services 
were  confined  to  the  Sabbath  day  and  the  mid-week 
lecture.  Occasionally  when  the  interest  seemed  to 
demand,  special  services  for  giving  religious  instruc- 
tion were  appointed.  "Anxious  seats"  were 
unknown  and  inquiry  meetings  as  we  now  know 
them  were  unheard  of.  Preaching  was  practically 
the  only  means  employed  for  quickening  the  con- 
sciences of  the  impenitent  and  for  giving  such 
instruction  as  seemed  suitable  to  the  needs  of  those 
who  were  inquiring  the  way  of  life  and  salvation. 

The  trend  of  the  preaching  was  decidedly  Calvin- 


48  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

istic.  The  sovereignty  of  God  was  the  central 
theme  about  which  all  else  revolved.  Jonathan 
Edwards  wrote:  "I  think  I  have  found  that  no  dis- 
courses have  been  more  remarkably  blessed  than 
those  in  which  the  doctrine  of  God's  absolute  sover- 
eignty with  regard  to  the  salvation  of  sinners,  and 
his  just  liberty,  with  regard  to  answering  the 
prayers  or  succeeding  the  pains  of  mere  natural 
men,  continuing  such,  have  been  insisted  on/'* 

Of  the  extremes  to  which  the  doctrine  of  divine 
sovereignty  was  sometimes  carried  we  have  evi- 
dence in  a  sermon  which  Edwards  preached  at 
Enfield,  Conn.,  from  the  subject  "Sinners  in  the 
hands  of  an  angry  God."  Among  other  things, 
he  affirmed  that  "God  has  laid  himself  under  no 
obligation,  by  any  promise,  to  keep  any  natural  man 
out  of  hell  one  moment.  .  .  .  The  bow  of 
God's  wrath  is  bent,  and  the  arrow  made  ready 
on  the  string,  and  justice  bends  the  arrow  at  your 
heart,  and  strains  the  bow,  and  it  is  nothing  but 
the  mere  pleasure  of  God,  and  that  of  an  angry 
God,  without  any  promise  or  obligation  at  all,  that 
keeps  the  arrow  one  moment  from  being  drunk  with 
your  blood.  .  .  .  The  God  that  holds  you  over 
the  pit  of  hell,  much  as  one  holds  a  spider  or  some 
loathsome  insect  over  the  fire,  abhors  you  and  is 
dreadfully    provoked;     .     .     .     You    hang    by    a 

*  Works,  Vol.  III.,  p.  245. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  49 

slender  thread,  with  the  flames  of  divine  wrath 
flashing  about  it,  and  ready  every  moment  to  singe 
it  and  burn  it  asunder;  and  you  have  no  interest 
in  any  mediator,  and  nothing  to  lay  hold  of  to  save 
yourself,  nothing  to  keep  off  the  flames  of  wrath, 
nothing  of  your  own,  nothing  that  you  have  ever 
done,  nothing  that  you  can  do  to  induce  God  to 
spare  you  one  moment." 

Abhorrent  as  such  doctrines  are  to  this  age,  when 
presented  by  a  mind  of  such  logical  force  and  acumen 
as  that  of  Mr.  Edwards,  they  were  calculated  to 
be  tremendously  effective.  There  is  small  cause 
for  wonder  that  under  such  preaching  men  and 
women  were  sometimes  seen  clinging  to  their  seats 
as  though  fearful  of  sliding  into  the  pit,  or  that 
there  were  physical  manifestations  at  times  of  an 
unusual  character. 

The  manner  in  which  the  subjects  of  the  Awaken- 
ing were  affected  has  been  described  by  Edwards  in 
his  Narrative  of  Surprising  Conversions.  First 
they  were  filled  with  an  "awful  apprehension"  of 
their  condition  by  nature  and  the  danger  they  were 
in  of  perishing  eternally,  so  that  they  often  suffered 
painful  physical  effects  in  consequence  of  the  agony 
of  spirit  which  they  underwent.  This  was  followed 
by  a  sense  of  God's  justice  in  their  condemnation, 
that  he  might  justly  bestow  his  mercy  upon  every 
other  person  in  the  world  and  damn  them  to  all  eter- 


50  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

nity.  Many  were  led  to  wonder  that  God  had  "not 
cast  them  into  hell  long  ago."  These  profound  con- 
victions were  succeeded,  sometimes  suddenly,  by  a 
"holy  repose  of  soul  in  God  through  Christ,  and  a 
secret  disposition  to  fear  and  love  him"  and  often  by 
such  a  sense  of  the  greatness  of  God's  grace  and  the 
fulness  of  Christ  as  to  lead  to  hysterical  weeping 
and  laughter;  "and  sometimes  they  have  not  been 
able  to  forbear  crying  out  with  a  loud  voice,  express- 
ing their  admiration." 

The  morbid  fears  which  preceded  a  hope  of  con- 
version often  lasted  for  many  weeks  and  months, 
sometimes  leading  to  consequences  that  were  disas- 
trous. Edwards  cites  one  instance  in  which  despair 
drove  the  individual  to  suicide  and  others,  he  says, 
were  tempted  to  do  likewise.  Yet  no  encourage- 
ment was  offered  to  these  perplexed  and  despair- 
ing souls.  To  have  done  so,  according  to  current 
theological  conceptions,  would  have  put  an  end  to 
their  convictions,  would  have  created  contention  and 
strife  with  God  because  he  accepted  some  and 
rejected  others,  and  would  have  stood  in  the  way 
of  that  humiliation  before  his  sovereign  majesty, 
which  was  regarded  as  the  first  step  towards  sal- 
vation. Consequently  those  who  had  become 
impressed  with  their  need  of  salvation  were  left 
to  wander  about  in  spiritual  darkness,  groping  after 
the  light,  until  relief  came  unaided,  and  their  fears 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  51 

were  dissipated  by  hopes  of  God's  omnipotent 
grace. 

The  general  effects  of  the  Awakening  were  salu- 
tary and  gracious.  Jonathan  Parsons  in  writing  of 
its  effects  in  his  parish  said:  "Rough  and  haughty 
minds  became  peaceful,  gentle,  and  easy  to  be 
entreated.  Lowliness,  long-suffering,  forbearance, 
a  courteous  deportment,  beneficence,  and  tender- 
heartedness, meekness,  and  moderation,  to  all 
appearance,  seemed  to  increase  abundantly.  And 
to  all  these  we  observed  a  delight  in  Christian  fel- 
lowship, in  breaking  of  bread,  and  in  prayer.  I 
think  it  cannot  be  expected  that  men,  in  their  gen- 
eral course,  should  give  clearer  evidences  of  Chris- 
tian temper  formed  in  them,  than  many  did  in  that 
season.  Their  faith  worked  by  love  and  discovered 
itself  in  acts  of  piety  towards  God,  charity  and 
righteousness  towards  men,  and  sobriety  towards 
themselves."* 

Jonathan  Edwards  bears  similar  testimony  to  the 
great  work  of  grace  at  Northampton :  "This  work 
of  God,  as  it  was  carried  on,  and  the  number  of 
true  saints  multiplied,  soon  made  a  glorious  altera- 
tion in  the  town ;  so  that  in  the  spring  and  summer 
following,  Anno  1735,  the  town  seemed  to  be  full 
of  the  presence  of  God :  it  never  was  so  full  of  love, 
nor  so  full  of  jdy;  and  yet  so  full  of  distress  as 

*  Tracy's  Great  Awakening,  p.  142. 


52  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

it  was  then.  There  were  remarkable  tokens  of  God's 
presence  in  almost  every  house.  It  was  a  time  of 
joy  in  families  on  account  of  salvation's  being 
brought  unto  them;  parents  rejoicing  over  their 
children  as  new  born,  and  husbands  over  their  wives, 
and  wives  over  their  husbands.  The  goings  of  God 
were  then  seen  in  his  sanctuary,  God's  day  was  a 
delight,  and  his  tabernacles  were  amiable.  Our 
public  assemblies  were  then  beautiful;  the  congre- 
gation was  alive  in  God's  service,  every  one  ear- 
nestly intent  on  the  public  worship,  every  hearer 
eager  to  drink  in  the  words  of  the  minister 
as  they  came  from  his  mouth;  the  assembly  in 
general  were,  from  time  to  time,  in  tears  while 
the  Word  was  preached;  some  weeping  with 
sorrow  and  distress,  others  with  joy  and  love, 
others  with  pity  and  concern  for  the  souls  of  their 
neighbors."* 

Throughout  New  England  a  remarkable  trans- 
formation had  been  wrought.  Young  people  had 
been  led  to  forego  their  frolics,  night  walking, 
impure  language  and  lewd  songs.  Both  old  and 
young  alike  had  abandoned  drinking  habits,  tavern 
haunting,  profane  language,  and  extravagance  in 
dress.  The  vicious  had  been  reformed,  and  the 
fashionable,  great  beaus  and  fine  ladies,  had  for- 
saken their  vanities.    The  Bible  and  books  of  devo- 


Works,  Vol.  III.,  p.  235. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  53 

tion  had  come  into  greater  esteem,  the  Lord's  day 
was  observed  more  religiously,  old  grudges  and 
differences  had  been  put  away,  and  there  was  a 
general  disposition  to  confess  sins  and  make  resti- 
tution for  wrongs  that  had  been  committed.  Such 
in  substance  were  the  effects  of  the  revival  in  New 
England  as  described  by  Edwards  in  his  Thoughts 
on  the  Revival  of  Religion. 

In  the  accounts  given  of  the  revivals  at  New 
Londonderry,  Pa.,  and  at  Lyme,  Conn.,  we  have 
seen  that  there  were  marked  physical  effects,  such 
as  weeping,  emotional  outbreaks,  hysterics  and  the 
like.  As  the  Awakening  progressed  these  physical 
manifestations  became  so  marked  as  to  create  an 
unfavorable  reaction  and  brought  the  revival  into 
disrepute.  In  many  instances  the  disorders  which 
had  arisen  were  greatly  magnified  and  malicious 
reports  were  circulated  to  the  great  detriment  of 
the  revival. 

Writing  of  such  reports,  Rev.  John  Cotton  of 
Halifax,  Mass.,  said:  "Some  I  found  to  be  wholly 
groundless;  others  were  gross  misrepresentations; 
the  bad  circumstances  of  a  story  were  picked  up 
and  related  and  all  the  good  suppressed ;  and  some- 
times when  only  one  was  guilty,  the  whole  body 
were  charged;  and  when  any  particular  person  had 
really  done  or  said  amiss,  and  was  soon  brought 
to  a  sense  of  it  and  repentance  for  it,  I  found  that 


54  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

the  repentance  did  not  fly  an  hundredth  part  as 
fast  as  the  sin."* 

While  this  view  of  the  situation  is  in  the  main 
correct,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  evil  reports 
were  often  only  too  true.  Some  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Awakening  had  not  always  acted  circumspectly, 
and  by  their  example  had  encouraged  the  excesses 
and  abuses  which  had  arisen.  Whitefield's  con- 
duct sometimes  savored  of  fanaticism.  His  Journal 
abounds  in  descriptions  of  the  emotional  effects 
of  his  preaching.  "Shrieking,  crying,  weeping  and 
wailing  were  to  be  heard  in  every  corner."  "In 
almost  every  part  of  the  congregation  somebody  or 
other  began  to  cry  out,  and  almost  all  melted  into 
tears."  "Some  were  struck  pale  as  death,  others 
wringing  their  hands,  others  were  lying  on  the 
ground,  and  most  lifting  their  eyes  towards  heaven, 
and  crying  to  God  for  mercy."  He  was  greatly 
influenced  moreover  by  impulses  and  impressions. 
Jonathan  Edwards  took  him  to  task  for  this  and  for 
judging  others  to  be  unconverted,  but  Whitefield 
apparently  did  not  take  kindly  to  the  wholesome 
advice  of  Edwards  and,  as  the  latter  thought,  "liked 
him  not  so  well  for  opposing  these  things." 

The  emotionalism  now  prevalent  in  the  Awaken- 
ing led  to  conflicting  opinions  as  to  its  value,  while 
the  unguarded  expressions  of  certain  of  the  leading 

*  Tracy's  Great  Awakening,  p.  178. 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  55 

lights  of  the  revival  created  more  or  less  acerbity  of 
feeling.  Both  Whitefield  and  Gilbert  Tennent  had 
declared  that  many  ministers  of  the  Gospel  were 
unconverted  men.  While  there  might  have  been  an 
element  of  truth  in  their  statements,  the  severe 
arraignments  and  unjust  recriminations  to  which 
they  resorted  were  too  general  and  too  sweeping  to 
accord  with  the  actual  state  of  facts.  There  can  be 
no  question  that  the  ministry  is  no  fit  calling  for  un- 
regenerate  men,  but  Whitefield  in  his  dependence 
upon  impulses  and  impressions  was  apt  to  think  that 
unless  ministers  met  with  results  similar  to  those 
which  he  witnessed  in  his  labors,  and  had  ex- 
periences quite  like  his  own,  they  were  unconverted, 
and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  them  such. 

The  disorders  which  had  already  brought  a  re- 
proach upon  the  revival  appeared  in  an  aggravated 
form  in  connection  with  the  labors  of  Rev.  James 
Davenport  of  Southold,  Long  Island.  Whitefield 
had  warmly  commended  him  and  pronounced  him  to 
have  a  closer  walk  with  God  than  any  man  he  had 
known.  Davenport  went  from  place  to  place  with- 
out invitation,  and  depending  upon  impulses  and 
impressions,  denounced  as  unconverted  such  minis- 
ters as  disagreed  with  him  and  exhorted  their 
flocks  to  desert  them  and  follow  him.  Confu- 
sion and  bitterness  resulted  in  almost  every  parish 
which    he    visited.      Congregations    were    divided, 


56  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

alienation  and  strife  were  created,  the  evil  effects  of 
which  continued  for  many  years. 

In  order  to  suppress  these  evils  the  Connecticut 
legislature  in  1742  passed  an  act  forbidding  any 
minister  or  licentiate  to  preach  in  any  church  not  his 
own,  without  the  consent  of  its  pastor  and  the  major 
portion  of  its  membership,  under  penalty  of  forfeit- 
ing the  right  to  collect  his  legal  salary,  if  a  resident 
of  the  colony,  and  liability  to  expulsion  from  the 
colony  if  not.  Davenport  was  accordingly  arrested 
and  brought  before  the  assembly,  by  whom  he  was 
adjudged  insane  and  sent  to  his  parish  on  Long 
Island.  Not  long  afterwards  he  appeared  in  Boston, 
where  in  accordance  with  his  custom  he  denounced 
the  ministers  as  "unconverted"  and  "leading  their 
people  blindfold  to  hell."  He  was  arrested  for  utter- 
ing slanderous  statements  against  the  ministry,  and 
although  the  charge  was  sustained  by  the  grand 
jury,  he  was  pronounced  non  compos  mentis  and 
therefore  not  guilty. 

The  following  March  he  went  to  New  London  to 
assist  in  the  formation  of  a  Separatist  Church.  In 
response  to  intuitions  which  he  declared  he  had  re- 
ceived from  above,  he  at  once  began  to  purify  them. 
To  that  end  he  ordered  wigs,  cloaks,  breeches, 
hoods,  gowns,  rings,  etc.,  to  be  brought  to  him  that, 
in  accordance  with  his  solemn  decree,  they  might  be 
consigned  to  the  flames.    On  Sabbath  afternoon  the 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  57 

pile  was  burned,  including  many  books  which  he  had 
condemned,  among  them  the  works  of  such  authors 
as  Flavel,  Beveridge,  Matthew  Henry,  Increase 
Mather,  and  even  the  writings  of  Jonathan  Parsons, 
the  fervid  revivalist  of  Lyme,  Conn.  As  the  smoke 
of  these  books  ascended  upwards,  so  affirmed 
Davenport,  was  ascending  in  hell  the  smoke  of 
the  torments  of  such  of  their  authors  as  had 
died  in  the  same  belief  in  which  the  books  had  been 
written. 

This  was  the  last  recorded  appearance  of  Daven- 
port's fanaticism.  A  year  later,  having  recovered 
his  reason,  he  published  a  retraction  of  his  errors, 
humbly  confessing  the  wrongs  of  which  he  had  been 
guilty  and  acknowledging  that  he  had  been  ''led 
astray  by  following  impulses  or  impressions  as  a 
rule  of  conduct"  and  had  neglected  also  "duly  to  ob- 
serve the  analogy  of  the  Scripture."  His  retraction 
produced  but  little  effect  upon  his  followers.  They 
simply  denounced  him  and  went  on  in  the  courses 
in  which  he  had  initiated  them.  His  chief  influence 
had  been  in  Connecticut,  where  the  civil  authorities 
unwisely  attempted  to  correct  by  legislation  and 
civil  penalties  the  abuses  and  evils  which  had  arisen. 
But  little  permanent  good  was  accomplished  in  this 
way,  while  the  feelings  on  both  sides  of  the  con- 
troversy were  only  intensified.  The  Separatist 
churches  which  had  been  formed  continued  to  exist 


58  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

for  many  years,  until  they  were  finally  absorbed  by 
the  Baptists  or  had  returned  to  the  denomination 
whence  they  had  come. 

These  unhappy  consequences  served  but  to  aggra- 
vate the  controversy  which  had  already  arisen  about 
the  revival.  The  agitations  of  the  public  mind  over 
questions  pertaining  to  the  Awakening  were  such 
that  the  religious  interest  soon  waned  and  the  re- 
vival was  at  an  end.  Jonathan  Edwards  was  fore- 
most among  those  who  defended  the  Awakening, 
and  he  published  in  its  defense  "Thoughts  on  the 
Revival  of  Religion  in  New  England,"  to  which  Dr. 
Charles  Chauncey,  an  able  but  "liberal"  opponent  of 
the  revival,  published  a  rejoinder  entitled  "Season- 
able Thoughts  on  the  State  of  Religion  in  New 
England,"  in  which  he  had  gathered  a  mass  of  evi- 
dence testifying  to  the  extravagances  practised  in 
various  places  in  connection  with  the  Awakening, 
and  for  which  he  condemned  the  work  as  a  whole. 

In  1743,  at  the  General  Convention  of  Congrega- 
tional Ministers  in  Massachusetts,  a  "Testimony" 
was  published  against  certain  "errors  in  doctrine" 
and  certain  "disorders  in  practice"  that  had  "of  late 
obtained  in  various  parts  of  the  land."  Thirty-eight 
votes,  comprising  but  a  small  minority  of  the  min- 
isters in  Massachusetts,  were  recorded  in  its  favor. 
As  it  was  intended  to  cast  discredit  upon  the  Awak- 
ening, it  was  very  irritating  to  the  friends  of  the 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  59 

same.  Accordingly  the  latter,  under  the  leadership 
of  Revs.  Joshua  Gee,  Benjamin  Colman,  William 
Cooper,  Thomas  Prince,  and  Joseph  Sewall,  all  of 
Boston,  gathered  another  convention  at  Cambridge 
the  following  July.  A  counter  "Testimony''  was 
published  affirming  "that  there  has  been  a  happy  and 
remarkable  revival  of  religion  in  many  parts  of  this 
land,  through  an  uncommon  divine  influence." — 
remarkable  "on  account  of  the  numbers  wrought 
upon,  the  suddenness  and  quick  progress  of  it, 
.  .  .  also  in  respect  of  the  degree  of  operation, 
both  in  a  way  of  terror  and  in  a  way  of  consolation ; 
attended  in  many  with  unusual  bodily  effects."  It 
was  admitted  that  "in  some  places  many  irregulari- 
ties and  extravagances  have  been  permitted  .  .  . 
but  who  can  wonder  if  at  such  a  time  as  this  Satan 
should  intermingle  himself  to  hinder  and  blemish  a 
work  so  directly  contrary  to  the  interests  of  his  own 
kingdom  ?" 

Much  has  been  made  of  the  opposition  to  the  re- 
vival, as  if  it  represented  the  better  elements  in  the 
churches  of  New  England,  and  indeed  it  has  been 
asserted  that  the  majority  of  ministers  in  Massachu- 
setts were  unfriendly  to  the  Awakening,  but  if  num- 
bers are  at  all  indicative  of  the  true  state  of  feeling, 
it  need  only  be  said  that  the  names  of  one  hundred 
and  thirteen  ministers  were  appended  to  the  latter 
document  as  against  the  thirty-eight  who  had  placed 


60  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

themselves  on  record  as  discrediting  the  Great 
Awakening. 

On  October  19,  1744,  George  Whitefield,  accom- 
panied by  his  wife,  landed  at  York,  Me.,  on  his  sec- 
ond visit  to  New  England.  His  arrival  only  added 
fuel  to  the  controversy  which  was  now  raging,  so 
that  the  results  of  his  labors  were  slight  in  com- 
parison with  his  former  visit.  He  was  obliged  to 
suffer  not  only  the  ill  consequences  of  his  own  in- 
discretions, but  those  of  his  followers  as  well,  many 
of  whom  had  gone  far  beyond  him  in  the  excesses 
of  which  they  had  been  guilty. 

On  account  of  certain  unguarded  expressions 
which  had  been  published  in  his  Journal,  many  who 
formerly  had  been  friendly  towards  him  became 
alienated,  and  were  not  disposed  to  favor  his  pres- 
ence. Associations  of  ministers  in  Massachusetts 
openly  opposed  him  by  public  declarations  and 
otherwise.  Harvard  and  Yale  Colleges  published 
"testimonies"  against  him,  and  in  June,  1745,  the 
General  Association  of  Connecticut  voted  that  "it 
would  by  no  means  be  advisable  for  any  of  our  min- 
isters to  admit  him  into  their  pulpits  or  for  any  of 
our  people  to  attend  his  ministrations." 

Former  experience,  however,  had  taught  White- 
field  some  lessons,  and  his  deportment  on  this  visit 
was  above  criticism.  He  acknowledged  some  of  his 
former  errors,  and  in  spite  of  the  opposition  which 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  61 

he  encountered,  his  visit  was  attended  with  excellent 
results.  He  remained  in  Boston  for  several  months 
and  was  persuaded  to  establish  a  course  of  six 
o'clock  morning  lectures  on  Genesis.  Multitudes 
flocked  to  hear  them,  and  his  Boston  friends  pro- 
posed to  build  for  him  "the  largest  place  of  worship 
ever  seen  in  America/'  but  he  declined  the  offer  in 
order  to  devote  his  energies  to  itinerary  evangelistic 
labors.  Although  in  New  England,  the  results  of 
this  visit  were  proportionately  smaller,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland  and  the  south,  his  efforts  had  never 
been  more  successful. 

In  the  Middle  Colonies  the  opposition  to  the  revi- 
val had  created  a  schism  among  the  Presbyterians, 
severing  the  denomination  into  two  rival  factions,  be- 
tween whom  a  bitterness  of  feeling  was  engendered 
for  many  years.  Finally  in  1758,  through  the  efforts 
of  Gilbert  Tennent  and  others,  the  "Great  Schism,,, 
as  it  had  been  called,  was  healed  by  the  mutual  sur- 
render of  differences,  and  American  Presbyterian- 
ism  went  forward  as  a  united  body  in  its  work  of 
conquest  and  of  victory. 

No  narration  of  the  events  of  the  Great  Awaken- 
ing would  be  complete  without  a  further  considera- 
tion of  its  chiefest  actors,  Edwards  and  Whitefield. 
The  close  of  Edwards'  pastorate  at  Northampton 
was  pathetic  if  not  tragic.  Gradually  coming  to 
realize  the  evils  of  the  Half- Way  Covenant,  he  in- 


62  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

sisted  upon  a  credible  evidence  of  conversion,  as  the 
ground  for  admission  to  church  membership.  This 
provoked  a  controversy  between  himself  and  the 
church.  An  attempt  also  to  discipline  certain 
younger  members  of  his  church  for  reading  books 
which  he  esteemed  obscene  reacted  unfavorably 
against  him.  Confident  of  the  justness  of  his  posi- 
tion, he  proposed  to  preach  a  series  of  sermons  upon 
his  views  as  to  the  qualifications  for  church  mem- 
bership, but  this  the  church  refused  to  permit.  An 
ecclesiastical  council,  "convened  not  without  ele- 
ments of  unfairness/'  voted  "that  it  is  expedient  that 
the  pastoral  relation  between  Mr.  Edwards  and  his 
church  be  immediately  dissolved,  if  the  people  shall 
persist  in  desiring  it."  The  action  of  the  council 
was  ratified  by  the  church  by  a  majority  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  votes.  July  i,  1750,  he  preached  his 
farewell  sermon.  For  some  time  he  preached  occa- 
sionally, until  prohibited  from  so  doing  by  the  town 
meeting.  Later  in  the  same  year  with  his  wife  and 
ten  children  he  removed  to  Stockbridge,  Mass., 
whither  he  had  been  sent  as  a  missionary  to  the 
Housatonic  Indians. 

The  next  few  years  were  spent  in  self-denying 
effort  on  behalf  of  those  who  came  within  the  prov- 
ince of  his  ministry.  If  not  attended  by  any  remark- 
able success,  his  pastorate  afforded  greater  leisure 
for  literary  labors,  which  was  improved  in  the  prep- 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  63 

aration  of  several  volumes,  the  most  important  of 
which  was  his  celebrated  treatise  on  the  "Freedom 
of  the  Will."  In  the  fall  of  1757,  President  Burr  of 
Princeton  having  died,  Edwards  was  invited  to  be- 
come his  successor,  but  it  was  not  until  the  follow- 
ing January  that  he  gave  his  reluctant  consent  to 
assume  the  responsibilities  of  that  office.  He 
soon  removed  to  Princeton,  and  shortly  after  his 
inauguration  was  inoculated  for  smallpox,  an 
operation    which    terminated    fatally,    March    22, 

1758. 

Whitefield  gradually  outlived  the  malignant  oppo- 
sition which  had  been  aroused  against  him  in  New 
England,  to  which  he  made  subsequent  visits,  in 
1754,  1764,  and  1770,  when  he  died  at  Newbury- 
port,  Mass.,  September  30.  For  more  than  thirty 
years  he  had  done  the  work  of  an  evangelist,  "post- 
ing o'er  land  and  ocean  without  rest,"  and  had  been 
listened  to  with  breathless  interest  by  thronging  mul- 
titudes on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Although  he 
had  made  mistakes,  he  had  been  wise  enough  to  cor- 
rect them,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  loved 
and  honored  as  an  apostle  to  the  English-speaking 
world.  Even  his  death  was  not  without  its  fruits. 
Benjamin  Randall,  a  godless  young  sailor  of  Ports- 
mouth, N.  H.,  had  been  an  interested  listener,  but 
the  news  of  the  great  evangelist's  death  so  affected 
him  that  it  led  to  his  conversion.     He  afterwards 


64  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

became  a  minister  and  founded  the  Free-Will  Bap- 
tist denomination. 

The  results  of  the  Great  Awakening  were  mo- 
mentous and  far-reaching.  Prior  to  this  mighty 
religious  upheaval,  the  churches  were  devoid  of 
spirituality  and  power.  Their  membership  in  large 
measure  was  composed  of  unregenerate  persons 
who  had  been  drawn  thither  by  the  social  and 
political  influence  thus  afforded,  and  instances  are 
on  record  of  unconverted  men  who  were  filling  the 
pulpits  of  churches.  Outside  of  the  church,  indif- 
ference and  irreligion  were  on  the  increase.  Pro- 
jected into  these  conditions,  the  Great  Awakening 
resulted  first  in  the  Spiritual  Quickening  of  the 
Churches.  In  the  aggregate  the  Congregational 
churches  of  New  England  shared  most  largely  in 
the  fruits  of  the  revival.  According  to  Rev.  Ezra 
Stiles,  afterwards  President  of  Yale  College,  during 
the  twenty  years  following  1740  "an  augmentation 
of  above  150  new  churches  has  taken  place,  founded 
not  on  separations  but  on  natural  increase  into  new 
towns  and  parishes,"  bringing  the  whole  number  of 
Congregational  churches  up  to  530.  Careful  his- 
torians have  estimated  that  from  25,000  to  50,000 
were  added  to  the  churches  of  New  England  in  con- 
sequence of  the  Awakening.  The  population  of  the 
New  England  Colonies  in  1750  was  340,000. 
Assuming  the  smaller  number  of  additions,  which 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  65 

is  a  conservative  estimate,  to  be  correct,  more  than 
seven  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population  of  these  colo- 
nies would  have  been  gathered  into  the  churches  as 
a  direct  result  of  the  revival.  A  national  awaken- 
ing of  similar  power  at  the  present  time  would  re- 
sult in  the  ingathering  of  more  than  five  million 
souls. 

The  increase  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  pro* 
portionately  greater.  From  1740  to  1760  the  num- 
ber of  Presbyterian  ministers  in  the  American 
Colonies  had  increased  from  45  to  over  100.  The 
churches  had  multiplied  with  even  greater  rapidity, 
and  at  this  time  there  were  41  pastorless  churches 
in  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  alone.  Although  the 
Middle  Colonies  were  the  principal  seat  of  Presby- 
terianism,  substantial  gains,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
been  made  in  Virginia  and  the  South. 

Notwithstanding  a  certain  amount  of  prejudice, 
the  Baptists  had  shared  materially  in  the  results  of 
the  Awakening.  During  this  period  their  churches 
in  New  England  had  increased  from  21  to  79.  This 
in  part  has  been  accounted  for  by  accessions  from 
Separatist  churches ;  but  as  these  were  chiefly  in 
Connecticut,  and  only  eight  new  Baptist  organiza- 
tions were  reported  in  that  Colony,  it  can  readily  be 
seen  that  the  increase  of  the  Baptists  from  the  Sepa- 
ratists has  been  greatly  overestimated.  The  rapid 
extension  of  the  denomination  must  be  accounted 


66  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

for  through  the  influence  of  the  revival,  indirect 
though  it  may  have  been.  New  churches  were  also 
formed  at  the  South  and  the  foundations  laid  for  the 
tremendous  influence  afterwards  exerted  by  the  de- 
nomination in  that  section. 

The  Episcopalian  Church  was  logically  forced 
into  an  attitude  of  opposition  to  the  Awakening,  so 
that  it  shared  but  little  in  the  results.  Indirectly, 
however,  the  denomination  was  benefited  by  the 
movement.  In  Virginia,  Devereaux  Jarrat  was  con- 
verted during  the  revival.  He  went  to  England  and 
received  ordination  at  the  hands  of  the  bishop  of 
Chester.  Returning  to  this  country  he  labored  dili- 
gently for  the  revival  of  his  own  denomination. 
"To  him,  and  such  as  he,  the  first  workings  of  the 
renewed  energy  of  the  church  in  Virginia  are  to  be 
traced." 

An  impetus  was  given  to  the  churches  of  various 
denominations  which  continued  to  be  felt  down  to 
the  very  threshold  of  the  Revolutionary  War. 
Whitefield's  visit  to  New  York  in  1764  was  attended 
with  greater  results  than  any  of  his  preceding  visits. 
That  same  year  there  was  a  remarkable  revival  at 
East  Hampton,  Long  Island,  under  the  ministry  of 
Rev.  Samuel  Buell.  Large  numbers  were  converted, 
and  at  one  communion  ninety-nine  persons  united 
with  the  church. 

From  the  time  of  the  Great  Awakening  to  the 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  67 

present  day,  revivals  have  been  a  characteristic  of 
American  Christianity.  The  spiritual  power  and 
the  remarkable  influence  exerted  by  the  American 
churches  are  attributable  in  no  small  degree  to  these 
mighty  quickenings,  which  like  tidal  waves  have 
swept  over  this  country,  gathering  multitudes  into 
the  church  of  God. 

A  Second  Result  of  the  Awakening  was  a  Quick- 
ening along  Missionary  and  Educational  Lines.  At 
Stonington,  Conn.,  and  at  Westerly,  R.  I.,  there 
were  extensive  revivals  among  the  Indians,  which 
resulted  in  the  extinction  of  heathenism  among 
them.  In  1743,  David  Brainerd,  a  convert  of  the 
revival,  began  his  extensive  missionary  labors 
among  the  Indians,  which  were  interrupted  by  his 
early  death.  Jonathan  Edwards,  at  whose  home  the 
last  days  of  the  saintly  Brainerd  were  spent,  wrote 
his  memoirs  under  the  title  of  "An  Account  of  the 
Life  of  David  Brainerd."  A  perusal  of  this  "Life" 
so  affected  Henry  Martin,  that  he  became  the  first 
modern  missionary  to  the  Mohammedans,  and  thus 
modern  missions,  in  part  at  least,  are  a  fruit  of  the 
Great  Awakening. 

Among  the  early  converts  of  the  revival  at  Nor- 
wich, Conn.,  was  Samson  Occum,  a  Mohegan  In- 
dian boy,  aged  seventeen  years.  A  promoter  of  the 
Awakening,  Rev.  Eleazar  Wheelock  of  Lebanon, 
Conn.,  received  him  into  his  home  in  1743  for  the 


68  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

purpose  of  educating  him.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  a  school  for  Indians,  which  developed  into  Dart- 
mouth College,  which  was  endowed  in  part  with 
funds  secured  by  Occum  in  England. 

Princeton  College  also  owes  its  origin  to  the 
Great  Awakening.  The  Presbyterian  party  in  the 
Middle  Colonies,  opposed  to  the  revival,  secured  an 
enactment  from  the  Synod,  requiring  a  diploma 
from  a  British  or  New  England  college,  as  a  re- 
quirement for  licensure  to  preach.  As  this  was 
intended  as  a  blow  at  the  "Log  College"  of  William 
Tennent,  the  friends  of  the  revival  established 
Princeton,  and  through  the  influence  of  Whiteneld 
considerable  funds  were  secured  in  England  for  its 
maintenance.  It  is  a  significant  fact  also  that  the 
charter  of  the  institution  was  granted  by  White- 
field's  friend,  Governor  Joseph  Belcher.  Born  as  it 
was  in  a  revival,  it  is  not  strange  that  Princeton 
should  have  been  blessed  with  remarkable  revivals  in 
1757  and  1762. 

A  third  Result  of  the  Great  Awakening  was  its 
Influence  upon  Religious  and  Political  Liberty.  In 
New  England,  excepting  the  Colony  of  Rhode 
Island,  Congregationalism  was  established  by  law. 
In  New  York,  Virginia  and  the  South,  Episco- 
palianism  was  the  established  religion.  The  expan- 
sion of  the  newer  denominations,  particularly  the 
Baptists  and  Presbyterians,  which  the  Awakening 


THE  GREAT  AWAKENING.  69 

fostered,  paved  the  way  for  the  tolerance  of  conflict- 
ing opinions  and  a  broader  conception  of  liberty  of 
conscience.  Rival  sects  existing  side  by  side  and 
openly  propagating  their  peculiar  tenets,  together 
with  the  following  which  they  rallied  about  them, 
led  to  the  introduction  of  those  principles  of  tolera- 
tion, which  guaranteed  religious  liberty  to  all,  in  so 
far  as  it  did  not  interfere  with  the  welfare  of 
society  or  disturb  the  peace  of  the  State.  With  this 
tendency  to  diversity,  a  unifying  influence  was  also 
at  work.  The  apostolate  of  Whitefield,  the  itinera- 
tion of  evangelists,  while  it  did  not  conflict  with 
denominational  loyalty,  served  to  emphasize  that 
broader  view  of  Christian  fraternity,  which,  rising 
above  name  and  sect,  enabled  men  to  catch  a  glimpse 
of  our  universal  brotherhood  in  Christ,  which  has 
been  so  characteristic  of  modern  American  Christi- 
anity. 

Only  indirectly  did  the  Great  Awakening  affect 
the  political  liberties  of  the  colonies.  The  religious 
convictions  of  the  American  people,  however,  which 
so  largely  were  called  into  being  through  the  revival, 
served  as  a  balance  to  the  political  revolution  which 
resulted  in  independence  and  prevented  it  from 
being  hurled  into  that  vortex  of  anarchy  and  ruin, 
in  which  the  French  Revolution  was  swallowed  up. 
War  at  its  best  is  but  a  species  of  savagery,  and  it 
was  the  results  of  this  Awakening  which  conserved 


70  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

the  principles  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  insured 
their  perpetuity  amid  the  desolations  and  horrors  of 
the  Revolutionary  struggle. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    PERIOD   OF   THE   REVOLUTION. 

Controversy  had  brought  a  speedy  end  to  the 
Great  Awakening  in  New  England.  The  political 
agitations  which  followed  prevented  a  renewal  of 
the  revival  spirit,  so  completely  absorbed  was  the 
public  mind  in  the  questions  of  the  day.  The  year 
1744  was  marked  by  the  commencement  of  King 
George's  War,  and  this  was  followed  a  few  years 
later  by  the  French  and  Indian  War.  From  the 
events  growing  out  of  the  latter  there  culminated 
that  agitation  which  resulted  in  the  American  Revo- 
lution. In  the  struggle  for  liberty  the  clergy  bore  no 
inconspicuous  part.  The  pulpit,  especially  in  New 
England,  was  a  forum  for  the  consideration  of  such 
subjects  as  affected  the  public  good.  Election  and 
fast  day  sermons  were  trumpet  calls  to  resist  the 
tyranny  of  parliament  and  king.  Throughout  the 
colonies  the  ministry  as  a  class  were  noted  for  their 
ardent  attachment  to  the  cause  of  liberty.  Many  of 
these  ministers  entered  the  army  as  chaplains  or  sol- 
diers, and  not  a  few  of  them  held  commissions  as 
officers  in  the  patriot  army. 


72  AMERICAN  REVIVALS. 

The  all-absorbing  interest  of  clergy  and  people  in 
the  causes  and  progress  of  the  war  proved  disastrous 
to  the  spiritual  life  of  the  churches.  Revivals  were 
practically  unknown  in  many  parts  of  the  country. 
In  places  there  were  occasional  quickenings  to  be 
sure,  but  for  the  most  part  they  were  exceptional. 
In  connection  with  the  founding  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege a  series  of  revivals  commenced  which  extended 
to  several  communities  in  that  vicinity  and  con- 
tinued for  several  years.  In  1771  and  1772  there 
was  a  remarkable  revival  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  which 
affected  profoundly  the  religious  life  of  the  college 
and  resulted  in  the  conversion  of  many  students.  In 
1772,  there  were  revivals  at  Elizabethtown  and 
Newark,  N.  J.,  at  Stockbridge  and  other  points  in 
Berkshire  County,  Mass.  At  Vance's  Fort  in  West- 
ern Pennsylvania,  through  the  efforts  of  Joseph 
Patterson,  a  layman,  an  extensive  revival  occurred 
in  1778,  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the 
Cross  Creek  Presbyterian  Church.  A  portion  of 
Lyme  County,  Conn.,  was  visited  with  a  season  of 
refreshing  in  1780.  Awakenings  were  reported  at 
Thetford,  Vt,  and  Brentford,  N.  H.,  in  1781,  and 
at  Boscawan,  N.  H.,  in  1782.  Yale  College  Church 
at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  was  visited  in  1783  with  a 
gracious  revival,  as  a  result  of  which  a  score  or  more 
of  the  undergraduates  united  with  the  College 
Church.    That  same  year  witnessed  revivals  at  West 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.     73 

Simsbury,  Mass.,  and  at  several  towns  in  Litchfield 
County,  Conn.  During  the  year  1784  there  were 
quickenings  at  Concord,  S.  C,  Elizabethtown,  N.  J., 
Berlin,  Conn.,  Medway  and  Franklin,  Mass.  In 
1785  there  was  an  extensive  awakening  at  East 
Hampton,  Long  Island,  under  the  ministry  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Buell;  more  than  one  hundred  united  with 
the  church  within  six  or  eight  months  after  its  com- 
mencement. From  1 781 -1 787  there  was  a  revival 
movement  in  the  churches  of  Cross  Creek,  Upper 
Buffalo,  Chartiers,  Pigeon  Creek,  Bethel,  Lebanon, 
Ten  Mile,  Cross  Roads,  and  Mill  Creek,  Pa.  More 
than  a  thousand  members  were  added  to  these 
churches.  The  foregoing  list  is  not  intended  to  be 
exhaustive.  There  doubtless  were  other  communi- 
ties which  were  visited  with  awakenings  of  greater 
or  less  extent. 

Both  the  Baptists  and  Presbyterians  in  their  mis- 
sionary zeal  had  pushed  out  into  the  frontier  bor- 
ders and  in  the  regions  not  visited  by  the  ravages  of 
war,  were  meeting  with  marked  success.  As  early 
as  1765  the  first  Baptist  churches  were  organized  in 
Tennessee,  and  in  1782  in  Kentucky.  The  Presby- 
terians penetrated  to  these  regions  somewhat  later, 
but  by  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  both  de- 
nominations were  well  represented  on  the  frontier. 

By  far  the  most  remarkable  religious  and  revival 
movement  of  the  period  was  the  rise  and  growth  of 


74  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

Methodism.  As  early  as  1760  a  party  of  German 
refugees  from  the  Palatinate  had  landed  at  New 
York.  For  a  time  they  had  sojourned  in  the  North 
of  Ireland,  where  some  of  their  number  had  been 
converted  to  the  tenets  of  Methodism.  Among 
them  were  Barbara  Heck  and  Philip  Embury,  the 
former  a  woman  of  devout  piety  and  marked  re- 
ligious personality,  the  latter  a  class  leader  and  local 
preacher.  For  some  years  no  attempt  was  made  to 
conduct  religious  services.  Finally  in  1766,  through 
the  importunities  of  Barbara  Heck,  who  had  become 
alarmed  on  account  of  the  dangers  of  apostasy, 
Philip  Embury  was  impelled  to  stir  up  the  gift  that 
was  in  him.  A  more  inopportune  time  for  the  in- 
auguration of  such  an  enterprise  could  hardly  have 
been  conceived.  The  Stamp  Act  had  been  passed 
the  preceding  year  and  the  Colonies  were  convulsed 
in  the  throes  of  that  agitation  which  was  to  culmi- 
nate in  the  Revolution.  However,  the  labors  of 
Whitefield  had  to  some  extent  paved  the  way  for  the 
pioneers  of  Methodism.  The  first  services  were  held 
at  Embury's  home,  but  within  a  short  time  a  larger 
room  became  necessary.  Early  in  1767  Capt. 
Thomas  Webb  of  the  British  Army  appeared  among 
them  and  introduced  himself  as  an  authorized  local 
preacher.  He  rendered  invaluable  assistance  to  this 
infant  society  and  was  instrumental  in  introducing 
Methodism  elsewhere.     Larger  quarters  soon  be- 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.    75 

came  necessary,  and  the  "rigging  loft,"  celebrated  as 
the  birthplace  of  American  Methodism,  was  hired. 
Services  were  conducted  three  times  a  week,  Em- 
bury and  Webb  preaching  alternately.  In  1768 
Wesley  Chapel  was  erected  on  John  Street.  In  the 
meanwhile  Robert  Strawbridge,  an  emigrant  from 
Ireland,  had  begun  preaching  in  Maryland  and  a  log 
chapel  was  constructed  at  Sam's  Creek  in  that 
colony. 

In  1769,  in  response  to  earnest  entreaties  for  more 
laborers,  two  itinerant  preachers,  Richard  Board- 
man  and  Joseph  Pilmoor,  were  sent  over  to  push  the 
work  in  what  was  proving  an  amazingly  fruitful 
field.  In  1771  Francis  Asbury,  who  contributed 
more  than  any  other  to  the  success  of  American 
Methodism,  came  to  engage  in  missionary  and  evan- 
gelistic activity  throughout  the  infant  settlements  of 
the  New  World.  At  the  first  annual  conference  in 
1773  a  force  of  ten  preachers  and  a  membership  of 
1 1 60  were  reported.  By  1775  the  preachers  had  in- 
creased to  nineteen  and  the  membership  to  over 
three  thousand,  most  of  whom  resided  in  the  South, 
which  was  proving  remarkably  well  adapted  to  the 
growth  of  this  new  fold. 

The  revolutionary  contest  reacted  unfavorably 
against  the  Methodists.  Many  of  their  preachers 
were  Englishmen,  and  as  might  have  been  expected 
were  loyal  to  the  interests  of  the  mother  country,  but 


76  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

by  1779  most  of  them,  with  the  exception  of  Francis 
Asbury,  had  left  for  England  or  Canada.  Notwith- 
standing his  American  sympathies,  Asbury  was 
obliged  to  spend  several  months  in  retirement.  On 
account  of  their  supposed  attachment  to  the  royalist 
cause  many  of  the  American  preachers  were  roughly 
handled,  and  in  some  instances  treated  with  great 
brutality.  In  Maryland  especially  the  persecutions 
were  severe.  Several  of  the  preachers  were  arrested 
and  fined,  while  others  were  committed  to  jail.  At 
length  the  Maryland  legislature  becoming  convinced 
that  the  advocates  of  Methodism  had  no  treasonable 
intentions,  granted  them  permission  to  prosecute 
their  labors  without  interference. 

In  spite  of  these  difficulties  and  embarrassments, 
the  progress  of  Methodism  was  remarkable.  Dur- 
ing only  two  years,  1778  and  1780,  did  the  reports 
show  any  decrease  in  numbers,  and  both  of  these 
years  were  followed  by  a  marked  increase.  The 
societies  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York  flourished 
under  British  occupancy.  In  the  latter  the  John 
Street  Church  was  the  only  one  where  divine  wor- 
ship was  conducted,  and  to  its  services  all  classes 
flocked  to  hear  the  gospel  preached  in  simplicity  and 
with  power.  At  the  close  of  the  war  in  1783  Asbury 
was  able  to  write  in  a  triumphant  strain :  "We  have 
about  fourteen  thousand  members,  between  seventy 
and  eighty  traveling  preachers,  between  thirty  and 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.    77 

forty  circuits.  ...  I  admire  the  simplicity  of 
our  preachers.  I  do  not  think  there  has  appeared 
another  such  company  of  young  devoted  men.  The 
gospel  has  taken   a  universal   spread.  O 

America!  America!  It  will  certainly  be  the  glory 
of  the  world  for  religion." 

All  other  denominations  had  suffered  seriously 
from  the  effects  of  the  war.  Congregations  were 
scattered,  churches  had  been  left  pastorless  and  in 
many  instances  entirely  destitute  of  religious  ser- 
vices. Church  buildings  had  frequently  been  dis- 
mantled and  used  as  stables,  hospitals,  or  barracks. 
The  British  soldiery  seemed  to  have  had  an  especial 
spite  against  houses  of  worship,  on  account  of  the 
influence  there  exerted  in  precipitating  the  struggle 
for  independence.  Church  organizations,  moreover, 
had  settled  down  into  a  state  of  apathy  and  active 
efforts  for  the  propagation  of  religion  had  ceased. 
Worship  was  universally  neglected  while  im- 
morality, intemperance  and  vice  increased  alarm- 
ingly on  every  hand. 

To  complete  the  moral  degradation  of  the  infant 
republic,  a  wave  of  French  infidelity  swept  over  the 
land.  At  that  time  the  American  mind  was  pecu- 
liarly susceptible  to  this  form  of  unbelief.  The 
friendly  relations,  which  had  existed  between  the 
colonies  and  France  during  the  revolutionary  strug- 
gle, were  favorable  to  the  introduction  of  the  skep- 


78  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

ticism  then  prevalent  in  that  country.  The  very 
success  of  the  American  cause  predisposed  the  minds 
of  many  to  that  which  was  a  departure  from  tradi- 
tional and  accepted  beliefs.  It  soon  became  fashion- 
able to  adopt  views  which  avowed  a  disbelief  in  the 
Bible,  scoffed  at  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  looked 
upon  religion  as  a  superstition  of  the  past.  Espe- 
cially was  this  true  of  scholars,  men  who  had  trav- 
eled abroad,  and  those  who  had  embraced  extreme 
republican  views. 

The  country  was  literally  flooded  with  infidel 
literature.  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight  wrote:  "From 
France,  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  the  dregs  of 
infidelity  were  vomited  upon  us.  From  the  Systeme 
de  la  Nature,  and  the  Philosophical  Dictionary  to 
the  Political  Justice  of  Godwin,  and  the  Age  of  Rea- 
son, the  whole  mass  of  pollution  was  emptied  upon 
this  country.  An  enormous  edition  of  the  Age  of 
Reason  was  published  in  France  and  sent  over  to 
America  to  be  sold  at  a  few  pence  per  copy,  and, 
where  it  could  not  be  sold,  to  be  given  away."* 

The  colleges  of  the  land  became  infected  with  the 
deadly  contagion  of  unbelief.  Lyman  Beecher,  in 
describing  the  condition  of  Yale  College  prior  to  the 
presidency  of  Dr.  Dwight,  said :  "Before  he  came, 
the  college  was  in  a  most  ungodly  state.  The  college 
church  was  almost  extinct.     Most   of   the  students 


*  Quoted  from  Dorchester's  Christianity  in  the  U.  S.,  p.  315. 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.    79 

were  skeptical  and  rowdies  were  plenty.  Wines  and 
liquors  were  kept  in  many  rooms ;  intemperance, 
profanity,  gambling  and  licentiousness  were  com- 
mon. .  .  .  Most  of  the  class  before  me  were 
infidels,  and  called  each  other  Voltaire,  Rousseau, 
D'Alembert,  etc." 

Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  who  entered  Princeton  in 
1782,  described  a  similar  state  of  affairs  in  that  col- 
lege: "While  I  was  a  member  of  college,  there  were 
but  two  professors  of  religion  among  the  students, 
and  not  more  than  five  or  six  who  scrupled  the  use 
of  profane  language  in  common  conversation,  and 
sometimes  it  was  of  a  very  shocking  kind.  To  the 
influence  of  the  American  war  succeeded  that  of  the 
French  revolution,  still  more  pernicious,  and  I  think 
more  general."* 

Transylvania  University  in  Kentucky,  which  was 
founded  by  the  Presbyterians,  passed  over  into  the 
hands  of  infidels.  Thomas  Cooper,  a  rank  free- 
thinker, taught  in  Dickinson  College,  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  in  Columbia  College,  S.  C.  In 
all  of  these  institutions  he  scattered  the  seeds  of  un- 
belief in  the  minds  of  his  pupils.  At  a  later  time 
there  was  but  a  single  professed  Christian  among 
the  students  of  Bowdoin  College.  Bishop  Meade  of 
Virginia  said :  "Infidelity  was  rife  in  the  State,  and 
the  College  of   William  and   Mary  was   regarded 

*  Sprague's  Revival  Lectures,  Appendix,  p.  342. 


80  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

as  the  hot-bed  of  French  politics  and  religion. 
I  can  truly  say  that  then  and  for  some  years 
after  in  every  educated  young  man  in  Virginia 
whom  I  met  I  expected  to  find  a  skeptic,  if  not  an 
avowed  unbeliever."* 

Multitudes  of  men,  prominent  in  public  affairs 
and  the  councils  of  state,  embraced  the  new  views. 
Washington,  Patrick  Henry,  John  Adams  and 
many  others,  to  be  sure,  never  had  any  sympathy 
with  this  manifest  trend  of  the  times.  Edmund 
Randolph  for  a  time  became  an  avowed  deist,  but 
was  reclaimed  to  the  Christian  faith  through  the 
prayers  of  a  pious  wife.  Jefferson  was  a  deist  and 
quite  liberal  in  his  views.  His  secretary  of  war, 
Gen.  Dearborn,  was  a  rank  infidel,  and  once  in 
alluding  to  the  churches  said,  "So  long  as  these 
temples  stand  we  cannot  hope  for  good  govern- 
ment." Gen.  Charles  Lee  was  so  violent  in  his  op- 
position to  Christianity,  that  in  his  will  he  requested 
his  survivors  not  to  bury  him  "in  any  church  or 
church-yard,  or  within  a  mile  of  any  Presbyterian 
or  Anabaptist  meeting-house."  So  widespread  was 
this  contagion  that  Chancellor  Kent  said:  "In  my 
younger  days  there  were  few  professional  men  who 
were  not  infidels,  or  at  least  were  so  far  inclined  to 
infidelity  that  they  could  not  be  called  believers  in 
the  truth  of  the  Bible." 


*  Dorchester's  Christianity  in  the  U.  S.,  p.  316. 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.    81 

Infidel  clubs,  societies  of  the  Illuminati,  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  propagating  infidel  and  revolu- 
tionary views,  were  instituted  in  various  parts  of 
the  country.  These  societies  were  in  communica- 
tion with  similar  organizations  in  France  and  en- 
couraged a  shocking  immorality. 

The  evils  which  prevailed  throughout  the  coun- 
try appeared  in  an  aggravated  form  in  the  West  and 
South.  Many  of  the  early  settlers  of  Kentucky 
named  their  towns  after  eminent  Frenchmen,  as 
Altamont,  Bourbon,  La  Rue,  Rousseau,  and  others 
testify.  In  1793  the  Kentucky  legislature  voted  to 
dispense  with  the  services  of  a  chaplain  as  being  no 
longer  necessary.  Lawlessness  seemed  to  be  the 
order  of  the  day.  Religion  was  disregarded  and 
morals  were  low.  In  many  towns  of  considerable 
size,  no  places  of  worship  were  to  be  found,  and  re- 
ligious services  were  of  rare  occurrence. 

Dark  indeed  were  the  closing  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Religion  was  at  a  standstill 
and  churches  were  declining.  Infidelity  in  its  most 
coarse  and  brutal  form  sneered  at  religion  and 
scoffed  at  morality.  The  predominant  sentiment  of 
the  people  seemed  to  be:  "We  will  not  have  God 
to  reign  over  us."  Even  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  with  all  of  its  religious  fervor,  its  apostolic 
spirit,  and  its  evangelistic  zeal  was  suffering  a  state 
of  decline.     During  the  three  years  which  preceded 


82  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

1796  that  denomination  had  suffered  an  average  loss 
of  four  thousand  members  annually. 

In  1794  Devereaux  Jarrat  of  the  Episcopalian 
Church  wrote:  "The  present  time  is  marked  by 
peculiar  traits  of  impiety  and  such  an  almost  uni- 
versal inattention  to  the  concerns  of  religion  that 
very  few  will  attend  except  on  Sunday,  to  hear  the 
word  of  the  Lord.  .  .  .  The  state  of  religion  is 
gloomy  and  distressing ;  the  church  of  Christ  seems 
to  be  sunk  very  low."* 

The  Pastoral  Letter  of  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly  in  1798  described  the  situation  in  the  fol- 
lowing language : 

"Formidable  innovations  and  convulsions  in 
Europe  threaten  destruction  to  morals  and  religion. 
Scenes  of  devastation  and  bloodshed  unexampled  in 
the  history  of  modern  nations  have  convulsed  the 
world,  and  our  country  is  threatened  with  similar 
calamities.  We  perceive  with  pain  and  fearful  ap- 
prehension a  general  dereliction  of  religious  principle 
and  practice  among  our  fellow  citizens,  a  visible  and 
prevailing  impiety  and  contempt  for  the  laws  and 
institutions  of  religion,  and  an  abounding  infidelity 
which,  in  many  instances,  tends  to  atheism  itself. 
The  profligacy  and  corruption  of  the  public  morals 
have  advanced  with  a  progress  proportioned  to  our 
declension  in  religion.     Profaneness,  pride,  luxury, 

*  Dorchester's  Christianity  in  the  U.  S.,  p.  348. 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.    83 

unjustness,  intemperance,  lewdness  and  every 
species  of  debauchery  and  loose  indulgence  abound." 
It  was  the  critical  period  in  the  history  of  Ameri- 
can Christianity.  Never  since  the  landing  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  had  the  institutions  of  religion  been 
put  to  a  sorer  test.  The  result  was  not  only  to  affect 
the  destinies  of  this  nation,  but  of  the  world. 
Should  Christianity  or  skepticism  triumph?  Should 
faith  or  unbelief  prevail  ?  Christianity  did  triumph 
and  faith  did  prevail.  The  Awakening  of  1800 
swept  back  the  tide  of  infidelity,  gave  strength 
and  power  to  the  churches  and  made  possible  the  up- 
building of  a  great  Christian  nation,  whose  insti- 
tutions have  become  the  glory  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE    AWAKENING     OF     l800. 

At  no  time  since  the  Great  Awakening  had  re- 
vivals wholly  ceased.  There  were  occasional  quick- 
enings  here  and  there  throughout  the  country;  but 
none  of  them  were  far-reaching  in  their  influence, 
and  in  most  instances  they  were  exceptional. 
Throughout  the  greater  portion  of  the  country  a  re- 
ligious indifference,  coupled  with  the  growth  of 
French  infidelity,  had  settled  down  like  a  great  pall 
over  the  land.  But  about  1790  in  various  portions 
of  the  country,  and  entirely  independent  of  one  an- 
other, signs  of  reviving  grace  began  to  appear. 

As  early  as  1787  there  were  revivals  of  marked 
power  in  various  parts  of  Virginia  and  Georgia. 
Among  the  earliest  of  these  was  that  at  Hampden 
Sydney  College,  Va.,  resulting  in  the  conversion  pf 
more  than  half  of  the  students.  From  this  center 
the  revival  extended  throughout  Prince  Edward, 
Cumberland,  Charlotte,  and  Bedford  Counties  and  to 
the  Peaks  of  Otter.  Archibald  Alexander  and 
others  visited  Prince  Edward  County  for  the  pur- 
pose of  attending  these  revivals.     On  their  return  a 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  85 

"revival  of  great  power  commenced,  which  extended 
to  almost  every  Presbyterian  church  in  the  valley  of 
Virginia."  Under  the  quickening  influence  of  this 
revival  Alexander  entered  the  ministry,  and  later 
left  the  impress  of  his  personality  upon  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary  in  the  missionary  and  revival 
spirit  that    has  long  characterized  it. 

The  revival  movement  did  not  manifest  itself  in 
New  England  until  some  time  later;  1792  is  the 
commonly  accepted  date  for  the  commencement  of 
the  Awakening  in  this  section  of  the  country, 
although  there  was  a  revival  at  North  Yarmouth, 
Me.,  the  year  previous,  and  one  in  1790  at  the  First 
Baptist  Church  of  Boston,  which  continued  for  some 
years.  It  is  possible  that  there  were  similar  mani- 
festations in  other  communities,  but  in  1792  there 
was  an  awakening  of  far-reaching  influence  at  Lee, 
Mass.,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Alvin  Hyde. 

Within  a  comparatively  brief  period  of  time  the 
revival  spirit  had  extended  to  various  portions  of 
New  England,  as  a  consequence  of  which  many  com- 
munities and  churches  were  quickened  and  refreshed. 
In  some  respects  these  New  England  revivals  were 
peculiar.  There  were  no  great  names  connected 
with  them,  such  as  the  names  of  Edwards  or  White- 
field.  There  were  no  evangelists  going  to  and  fro 
in  their  burning  zeal  to  arouse  the  impenitent  or  to 
incite  the  churches  to  activity.     The  services  were 


86  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

carried  on  chiefly  by  the  pastors  in  their  respective 
parishes.  Sometimes  neighboring  ministers  would 
assist  one  another  in  such  services  so  far  as  was  con- 
sistent with  their  own  duties.  Notwithstanding 
this  phase  of  the  awakening  there  are  two  names  de- 
serving of  special  mention,  because  of  the  important 
role  which  they  played  during  this  interesting  epoch 
of  American  religious  history.  I  refer  to  Dr.  E.  D. 
Griffin  and  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight,  president  of  Yale 
College. 

Edward  Dorr  Griffin,  a  preacher  of  winning  per- 
sonality and  persuasive  power,  exerted  a  far-reach- 
ing influence  over  the  churches  of  New  England.  At 
the  time  of  which  we  write  he  was  in  the  full  bloom 
and  vigor  of  his  early  manhood  and  threw  himself 
with  all  the  ardor  of  his  youthful  spirit  into  the  work 
of  saving  souls.  Griffin  was  born  in  1770  at  East 
Haddam,  Conn.,  and  graduated  at  Yale  in  1790, 
after  which  he  studied  theology  under  Jonathan 
Edwards,  the  younger.  His  earliest  efforts  in  re- 
vival work  were  at  the  home  of  his  father,  where  he 
was  tarrying  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1792. 
Finding  himself  the  only  professor  of  religion  in  a 
family  of  ten,  he  began  at  once  to  labor  for  their 
conversion.  As  a  consequence  a  revival  commenced 
in  that  neighborhood,  which  resulted  in  the  conver- 
sion of  about  one  hundred  persons.  The  following 
January  he  began  preaching  at  New  Salem,  nearby, 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  87 

where  a  church  was  gathered  where  there  had  been 
none  for  more  than  forty  years,  and  "about  one 
hundred  were  hopefully  added  to  the  Lord." 

Of  the  revivals  of  the  period  Dr.  Griffin  has  left 
on  record  the  following:  "About  the  year  1792  com- 
menced three  series  of  events  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  constitute  a  new  era.  That  year  the 
blood  began  to  flow  in  Europe,  in  that  contest  which, 
with  short  intervals,  was  destined  to  destroy  the 
'man  of  sin'  and  to  introduce  a  happier  form  of 
society  and  the  glorious  state  of  the  church.  That 
year  was  established  at  Kettering  in  England  the 
first  in  the  continuous  series  of  societies  which  have 
covered  the  whole  face  of  the  Protestant  world  and 
introduced  the  age  of  missions  and  of  active  benevo- 
lence. And  that  year  or  the  year  before  began  the 
unbroken  series  of  American  revivals.  There  was 
a  revival  in  North  Yarmouth,  Me.,  in  179 1.  In  the 
summer  of  1792  one  appeared  in  Lee,  in  the  county 
of  Berkshire.  The  following  November,  the  first 
that  I  had  the  privilege  of  witnessing  showed  itself 
on  the  borders  of  East  Haddam,  and  Lyme,  Conn., 
which  apparently  brought  to  Christ  about  a  hundred 
souls.  Since  that  time  revivals  have  never  ceased. 
I  saw  a  continued  succession  of  heavenly  sprinklings 
at  New  Salem,  Farmington,  Middlebury,  and  New 
Hartford,  Conn.,  until,  in  1799,  I  could  stand  at  my 
door  in  New  Hartford,  Litchfield  County,  and  num- 


88  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

ber  fifty  or  sixty  congregations  laid  down  in  one 
field  of  divine  wonders,  and  as  many  more  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  New  England.  By  1802  revivals  had 
spread  themselves  through  most  of  the  western  and 
southern  States ;  and  since  that  time  they  have  been 
familiar  to  the  whole  American  people."* 

Through  the  influence  of  President  Dwight,  the 
tide  of  infidelity  described  in  a  preceding  chapter 
was  turned  backwards.  Timothy  Dwight,  a  grand- 
son of  Jonathan  Edwards  through  his  mother,  was 
born  at  Northampton,  Mass.,  in  1752.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Yale,  graduating  in  1769.  From  1771  to 
1777  he  served  his  alma  mater  as  a  tutor.  During 
the  revolutionary  struggle  he  was  appointed  to  a 
chaplaincy  in  the  American  Army,  in  the  service  of 
which  he  remained  for  more  than  a  year.  In  1783 
he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  and  spent  the  next 
few  years  at  the  head  of  an  academy  in  Greenfield, 
Conn.,  whence  he  was  called  in  1795  to  the  presi- 
dency of  Yale  College,  a  position  which  he  continued 
to  fill  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  181 7. 

When  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  the 
college  was  infected  with  the  prevalent  French  infi- 
delity, and  there  were  but  few  students  who  were 
not  contaminated  by  it.  "The  degree  to  which  it 
prevailed  may  be  judged  from  the  following  fact: 
A  considerable  portion  of  the  class  which  he  first 
*  Sprague's  Lectures,  Appendix,  p.  359. 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  89 

taught  had  assumed  the  names  of  the  English  and 
French  infidels  and  were  more  familiarly  known  by 
them  than  their  own."*  Dr.  Dwight  invited  the 
freest  discussion  on  the  part  of  his  students,  and  hav- 
ing listened  to  their  doubts  and  arguments,  he 
preached  a  series  of  sermons  in  the  college  chapel  in 
which  the  whole  philosophy  of  skepticism  was  an- 
swered and  overthrown.  Through  the  influence  of 
his  earnest  and  logical  preaching,  a  marked  change 
was  soon  manifest  in  the  life  of  the  institution. 
This  was  followed  in  the  spring  of  1802  by  a  power- 
ful revival  during  the  progress  of  which  seventy-five 
out  of  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  students  were 
converted  and  united  with  the  church.  Nearly  half 
of  these  gave  themselves  to  the  work  of  the  gospel 
ministry.  The  importance  of  such  a  factor  in  the 
religious  life  of  the  nation  cannot  be  overestimated. 
As  Bishop  Hurst  has  well  expressed  it:  "From  the 
day  that  the  young  president  faced  his  students  in 
the  chapel  of  Yale  College,  infidelity  has  been  a  van- 
ishing force  in  the  history  of  the  American  people." 
A  marked  characteristic  of  the  revivals  of  the 
period,  which  by  this  time  had  extended  throughout 
all  of  the  States  of  New  England,  was  their  per- 
manency and  their  freedom  from  abnormal  excite- 
ment. The  revival  wave  did  not  soon  spend  its 
force.     In  addition  to  the  extensive  revivals  inaugu- 


*  Dwight's  Theology,  Vol.  I.,  p.  20. 


90  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

rated  about  1792,  "within  a  period  of  five  or  six 
years,  commencing  with  1797,  not  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  churches  in  New  England  were 
visited  with  'times  of  refreshing  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord.'  "* 

In  Western  Pennsylvania,  where  apparently  there 
had  been  no  diminution  of  the  revival  spirit  during 
the  Revolutionary  War,  another  manifestation  of 
divine  power  occurred  in  1795,  extending  to  the  new 
settlements  north  of  Pittsburg.  From  1802- 1804 
the  same  section  was  visited  with  powerful  revivals 
which  extended  throughout  Western  Pennsylvania 
and  Northeastern  Ohio. 

From  1 798- 1 800  there  were  extensive  revivals  in 
the  western  portion  of  New  York.  Palmyra,  Can- 
andaigua  and  other  towns  in  that  portion  of  the 
State  were  visited,  the  revival  extending  throughout 
the  counties  of  Delaware,  Otsego,  Oneida  and  else- 
where. The  Presbyterian  churches  shared  chiefly  in 
this  work. 

In  Kentucky  and  the  Southwest  the  great  deeps 
were  broken  up  through  the  joint  efforts  of  the 
Methodists  and  Presbyterians,  although  the  revival 
soon  became  so  extensive  as  to  include  nearly  all  of 
the  religious  denominations  in  the  State.  Among 
the  earliest  outpourings  of  which  we  have  any  ac- 
count were  those  which  visited  Logan  County,  Ky., 


*  Tyler's  New  England  Revivals,  p.  5. 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  91 

during  the  month  of  July,  1800.  The  services,  con- 
ducted by  Rev.  James  McGready  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  were  held  in  the  open  air  and  were  attended 
by  all  classes,  both  black  and  white,  from  within  a 
radius  of  more  than  sixty  miles.  A  revival  was  in- 
augurated, the  influence  of  which  extended  far  and 
wide,  for  the  fame  of  it  spread  abroad  throughout 
all  that  country.  Rev.  Barton  W.  Stone,  who  after- 
wards became  one  of  the  leading  lights  in  the  sect 
known  as  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  at  that  time  was  a 
Presbyterian  minister  in  Bourbon  County,  Ky.,  and 
having  heard  of  this  wonderful  work  of  grace  went 
clear  across  the  State  in  the  spring  of  1801  to  attend 
a  camp-meeting  in  that  vicinity  and  to  behold  for 
himself  the  marvelous  things  that  God  had 
wrought.  He  wrote  a  narrative  describing  as  fol- 
lows the  scenes  which  he  witnessed : 

"There,  on  the  edge  of  a  prairie  in  Logan  County, 
Ky.,  the  multitudes  came  together  and  continued  a 
number  of  days  and  nights  encamped  on  the  ground, 
during  which  time  worship  was  carried  on  in  some 
part  of  the  encampment.  The  scene  was  new  to  me 
and  passing  strange.  It  baffled  description.  Many, 
very  many,  fell  down  as  men  slain  in  battle,  and  con- 
tinued for  hours  together  in  an  apparently  breathless 
and  motionless  state,  sometimes  for  a  few  moments 
reviving  and  exhibiting  symptoms  of  life  by  a  deep 
groan  or  piercing  shriek,  or  by  a  prayer  for  mercy 


92  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

fervently  uttered.  After  lying  for  hours  they  ob- 
tained deliverance.  The  gloomy  cloud  that  had  cov- 
ered their  faces  seemed  gradually  and  visibly  to  dis- 
appear, and  hope,  in  smiles,  brightened  into  joy. 
They  would  rise,  shouting  deliverance,  and  then 
would  address  the  surrounding  multitude  in  lan- 
guage truly  eloquent  and  impressive.  With  aston- 
ishment did  I  hear  men,  women,  and  children  de- 
claring the  wonderful  works  of  God  and  the  glori- 
ous mysteries  of  the  gospel.  Their  appeals  were 
solemn,  heart-penetrating,  bold,  and  free.  Under 
such  circumstances  many  others  would  fall  down 
into  the  same  state  from  which  the  speakers  had  just 
been  delivered. 

'Two  or  three  of  my  particular  acquaintances 
from  a  distance  were  struck  down.  I  sat  patiently  by 
one  of  them,  whom  I  knew  to  be  a  careless  sinner, 
for  hours,  and  observed  with  critical  attention  every- 
thing that  passed,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 
I  noticed  the  momentary  revivings  as  from  death, 
the  humble  confession  of  sins,  the  fervent  prayer, 
and  the  ultimate  deliverance ;  then  the  solemn  thanks 
to  God,  and  affectionate  exhortation  to  companions 
and  to  the  people  around  to  repent  and  come  to 
Jesus.  I  was  astonished  at  the  knowledge  of  gospel 
truth  displayed  in  the  address.  The  effect  was  that 
several  sank  down  into  the  same  appearance  of 
death.     After  attending  to  many  such  cases,  my  con- 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  93 

viction  was  complete  that  it  was  a  good  work — the 
work  of  God ;  nor  has  my  mind  wavered  since  on 
the  subject.  Much  did  I  see  then,  and  much  have  I 
seen  since,  that  I  consider  to  be  fanaticism ;  but  this 
should  not  condemn  the  work.  The  devil  has 
always  tried  to  ape  the  works  of  God,  to  bring  them 
into  disrepute;  but  that  cannot  be  a  Satanic  work 
which  brings  men  to  humble  confession,  to  for- 
saking sin,  to  prayer,  fervent  praise  and  thanks- 
giving, and  to  a  sincere  and  affectionate  exhorta- 
tion to  sinners  to  repent  and  come  to  Jesus  the 
Saviour." 

Returning  to  his  congregations  at  Cane  Ridge 
and  Concord  in  Bourbon  County,  he  narrated  the  in- 
cidents of  his  visit,  and  so  profound  was  the  impres- 
sion thus  made  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  a 
revival  commenced,  during  the  progress  of  which 
similar  scenes  were  enacted.  He  wrote  of  this  re- 
vival :  "A  memorable  meeting  was  held  at  Cane 
Ridge  in  August,  1801.  The  roads  were  crowded 
with  wagons,  carriages,  horses,  and  footmen  mov- 
ing to  the  solemn  camp.  It  was  judged  by  military 
men  on  the  ground  that  between  twenty  and  thirty 
thousand  persons  were  assembled.  Four  or  five 
preachers  spoke  at  the  same  time  in  different  parts 
of  the  encampment  without  confusion.  The  Metho- 
dist and  Baptist  preachers  aided  in  the  work,  and 
all  appeared  cordially  united  in  it.     They  were  of 


94  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

one  mind  and  soul :  the  salvation  of  sinners  was  the 
one  object.  We  all  engaged  in  singing  the  same 
songs,  all  united  in  prayer,  all  preached  the  same 
things.  .  .  .  The  numbers  converted  will  be 
known  only  in  eternity.  Many  things  transpired  in 
the  meeting  which  were  so  much  like  miracles  that 
they  had  the  same  effect  as  miracles  on  unbelievers. 
By  them  many  were  convinced  that  Jesus  was  the 
Christ  and  were  persuaded  to  submit  to  him.  This 
meeting  continued  six  or  seven  days  and  nights,  and 
would  have  continued  longer,  but  food  for  the  sus- 
tenance of  such  a  multitude  failed. 

"To  this  meeting  many  had  come  from  Ohio  and 
other  distant  parts.  These  returned  home  and  dif- 
fused the  same  spirit  in  their  respective  neighbor- 
hoods. Similar  results  followed.  So  low  had  re- 
ligion sunk,  and  such  carelessness  had  universally 
prevailed,  that  I  have  thought  that  nothing  common 
could  have  arrested  and  held  the  attention  of  the 
people/'* 

After  this  fashion  the  revival  extended  through- 
out the  borders  of  Kentucky,  and  through  Tennessee 
into  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  visiting  the  South 
and  Southwest  with  veritable  showers  of  refreshing 
grace. 

In  this  section  of  the  country  the  work  was  at- 
tended   with    many    extravagances    and    vagaries, 


Tyler's  Disciples,  pp.  14,  15,  16. 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  95 

which  the  preachers,  for  the  most  part  ignorant  and 
unlearned  men,  did  not  attempt  to  suppress.  En- 
thusiasm ran  wild.  The  excitements  of  such  large 
religious  gatherings  engendered  physical  manifesta- 
tions of  an  unusual  order.  The  preaching  services 
were  attended  with  outcries,  faintings,  convulsions, 
"falling  under  the  power  of  God,"  hysterical  weep- 
ing and  laughter,  and  a  peculiar  species  of  exercise 
called  the  "jerks,"  of  which  more  shall  be  said  in  a 
subsequent  chapter.  These  strange  features  did  not 
produce  the  disastrous  results  that  they  would  have 
produced  in  more  cultured  communities.  Instead  of 
hindering  the  revival  they  seemed  to  aid  it,  for  in 
the  regions  where  such  manifestations  took  place 
they  were  looked  upon  as  the  undoubted  works  of 
God.  As  to  the  genuineness  of  the  revival,  notwith- 
standing these  extravagances,  there  can  be  no 
question.  Communities  were  transformed,  while 
the  godless  and  profane  were  influenced  by 
divine  grace  to  enter  upon  lives  of  holiness  and 
prayer. 

Rev.  George  A.  Baxter,  who  visited  this  section, 
has  left  on  record  the  following  testimony  :  "On  my 
way  I  was  informed  by  settlers  on  the  road  that  the 
character  of  Kentucky  travelers  was  entirely 
changed,  and  that  they  were  as  remarkable  for 
sobriety  as  they  had  formerly  been  for  dissoluteness 
and  immorality.     And  indeed  I  found  Kentucky  to 


96  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

appearances  the  most  moral  place  I  had  ever  seen. 
A  profane  expression  was  hardly  ever  heard.  A  re- 
ligious awe  seemed  to  pervade  the  country.  Upon 
the  whole,  I  think  the  revival  in  Kentucky  the  most 
extraordinary  that  has  ever  visited  the  church  of 
Christ;  and  all  things  considered,  it  was  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the  country  into 
which  it  came.  Infidelity  was  triumphant  and  re- 
ligion was  on  the  point  of  expiring.  Something 
extraordinary  seemed  necessary  to  arrest  the  atten- 
tion of  a  giddy  people  who  were  ready  to  conclude 
that  Christianity  was  a  fable  and  futurity  a  delu- 
sion. This  revival  has  done  it.  It  has  confounded 
infidelity  and  brought  numbers  beyond  calculation 
under  serious  impressions." 

Having  traced  the  beginnings  of  this  remarkable 
awakening,  which  appeared  quite  simultaneously  in 
various  remote  and  widely  separated  localities, 
spreading  until  it  had  practically  embraced  the 
whole  country,  it  will  be  of  interest  to  consider  the 
means  which  were  employed,  the  services  which 
were  conducted,  and  the  doctrines  that  were 
enforced  to  promote  this  work  of  grace,  the  influence 
of  which  was  so  far  reaching  upon  the  religious  life 
of  the  nation. 

In  New  England  the  measures  made  use  of  were 
comparatively  few  and  simple.  There  were  no 
evangelists  or  protracted  meetings,   nor  were  ex- 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  97 

traordinary  methods  of  any  character  resorted  to. 
The  ministers  as  a  rule  did  their  own  preaching,  ex- 
cept in  a  few  instances  where  neighboring  pastors 
were  invited  to  assist.  In  addition  to  the  Sabbath 
services  and  the  mid-week  lecture,  prayer  meetings 
were  conducted  occasionally  on  Sabbath  evenings  or 
at  some  convenient  time  during  the  week.  In  these 
prayer  meetings  the  laity  often  rendered  helpful  as- 
sistance to  their  pastors.  There  were  no  anxious 
seats,  nor  was  there  any  attempt  to  influence  the  un- 
converted to  commit  themselves  in  public  as  seekers 
after  religion.  On  the  contrary  the  subjects  of  this 
work  were  urged  to  make  certain  their  hopes  before 
uniting  with  the  church  or  engaging  in  any  public 
exercise.  The  principal  means  relied  upon  was  the 
preaching  of  the  Word.  The  doctrines  especially 
emphasized  were  God's  sovereignty,  the  immutabil- 
ity of  the  moral  law,  human  depravity,  the  sufficiency 
of  the  atonement,  the  freeness  of  pardon  through 
Christ,  the  necessity  of  regeneration,  and  the  duty  of 
submitting  to  God. 

The  manner  in  which  the  subjects  were  affected 
corresponded  to  the  doctrines  that  were  preached, 
and  was  not  unlike  that  in  which  the  converts  were 
affected  during  the  Great  Awakening,  as  described 
by  Edwards.  In  most  instances  there  was  a  period 
of  distress  during  which  the  persons  affected  were 
sensible  of  the  depravity  of  their  hearts,  their  un- 


98  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

worthiness  before  God,  and  a  conviction  that  it 
would  be  just  in  God  were  he  to  cast  them  off  for- 
ever. The  transition  from  this  state  to  one  of  joy 
and  peace  in  believing  would  sometimes  be  sudden, 
but  in  other  instances  the  convicted  would  be  dis- 
tressed for  months  before  relief  came.  When  the 
converts  began  to  hope  in  Christ  it  was  generally 
with  much  trembling,  and  "they  gradually  advanced 
to  a  steady  comfortable  hope  with  great  caution  and 
much  self-examination." 

In  the  Southwest,  on  account  of  a  lack  of  suitable 
edifices,  protracted  meetings  lasting  some  days  or 
weeks  were  conducted  in  groves  or  in  the  open  air. 
These  were  largely  attended  by  the  settlers  from 
miles  around.  For  the  want  of  better  accommoda- 
tion the  attendants  would  camp  in  the  grove  where 
the  meeting  was  held  or  in  the  woods  near  by,  which 
accounts  for  the  rise  of  the  American  camp-meeting 
about  this  time.  Several  ministers  of  perhaps  dif- 
ferent denominations  would  assist  in  the  preaching 
exercises,  which  were  conducted  several  times  daily 
and  by  the  light  of  fagots  at  night. 

Of  the  character  of  the  preaching  Rev.  E.  B. 
Crisman  says :  "The  ministers  dwelt,  with  great 
power,  continually  on  the  necessity  of  repentance 
and  faith,  the  fullness  of  the  gospel  for  all,  and  the 
necessity  of  the  new  birth.  They  earnestly  pre- 
sented the  purity   and   justice  of  God's   law,   the 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  99 

odious  and  destructive  consequences  of  sin,  and  the 
freeness  and  sufficiency  of  pardon  for  all."* 

In  Kentucky  and  the  West  this  Awakening  was 
preceded  by  seasons  of  earnest  prayer.  Christians 
entered  into  a  solemn  covenant  to  spend  a  definite 
portion  of  their  time  in  prayer  for  an  outpouring  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  men.  A  half- 
hour  at  sunset  Saturday  and  a  half-hour  before 
sunrise  on  Sunday  was  the  time  generally  agreed 
upon  for  this  purpose. 

The  results  of  the  Awakening  were  three- fold : 
First,  the  overthrow  of  infidelity;  second,  the  spir- 
itual quickening  of  the  churches ;  third,  the  inaugu- 
ration of  the  great  philanthropic  and  missionary 
enterprises. 

First — The  Overthrow  of  Infidelity.  The  Awak- 
ening came  at  the  critical  period  in  the  history  of  the 
American  republic.  It  was  a  time  of  beginnings  in 
the  life  of  the  nation,  a  time  moreover  when  the  re- 
ligious character  of  our  country  was  suspended  in 
the  balances  and  the  destinies  thereof  were  to  be  de- 
cided for  generations  to  come.  For  a  while  the 
overthrow  of  Christianity  seemed  to  be  complete. 
Churches  were  declining.  Revivals  were  few.  The 
educated  and  influential  almost  universally  regarded 
Christianity  with  indifference,  if  not  with  open  con- 
tempt.     Infidelity    was    rife    and    was    increasing 

♦Tyler's  Disciples,  p.   13. 


ioo  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

alarmingly  on  every  hand.  In  fact,  all  indications 
seemed  to  point  to  a  decline  in  that  faith  which  had 
animated  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  inspired  the  hopes 
of  the  early  settlers  of  our  country.  The  inception 
of  this  revival  at  such  a  time  cannot  but  be  regarded 
as  one  of  the  signal  manifestations  of  God's  provi- 
dential dealings  of  which  our  national  history 
affords  so  many  illustrious  examples.  By  means  of 
its  gracious  influences  the  weak  churches  grew 
strong  and  all  the  Christian  activities  of  the  land 
throbbed  with  the  pulsations  of  a  new  life.  Every 
condition  of  society  was  reached  from  the  cultured 
classes  of  staid  New  England  to  the  untutored  set- 
tlers on  the  frontier  of  what  then  constituted  the 
remote  West.  Infidelity  became  a  vanishing  force, 
while  the  religious  character  of  the  United  States 
was  assured  for  generations  to  come. 

One  of  the  most  important  results  of  this  revival 
was  the  reclamation  of  the  colleges  of  the  land  from 
infidelity.  As  we  have  already  seen,  President 
Dwight's  masterful  and  discriminating  survey  of  the 
philosophy  of  unbelief  and  his  complete  refutation  of 
the  same  was  followed  in  1802  by  a  powerful  and 
far-reaching  revival  in  the  college  over  which  he 
presided.  Similar  awakenings  occurred  at  Dart- 
mouth, Williams,  and  various  other  institutions  of 
learning  throughout  the  land,  in  consequence  of 
which  the  colleges  of  this  country  have  never  ceased 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  101 

to  be  centers  of  Christian  influence,  whence  have 
flowed  streams  of  living  water  to  quicken  and  re- 
fresh the  world. 

Second — The  Spiritual  Quickening  of  the 
Churches.  This  revival  was  practically  co-extensive 
with  the  populated  territory  then  embraced  within 
the  United  States.  Commencing  simultaneously  in 
several  remote  centers  the  work  extended,  until  the 
intervening  portions  of  the  country  were  embraced 
within  its  scope.  Besides  the  renewed  life  and  ac- 
tivity of  church  members,  numerous  additions  were 
made  to  the  various  churches  throughout  the  coun- 
try. It  is  impossible  to  determine  with  any  degree 
of  accuracy  the  number  of  converts  who  were  won  to 
the  faith  and  gathered  into  the  churches.  The  re- 
vival was  so  long  in  its  continuance,  and  so  lasting 
in  its  influence,  that  numerical  estimates  would  be 
confusing  and  perhaps  misleading.  Certain  figures, 
however,  are  significant.  In  Kentucky  alone  it  was 
estimated  that  ten  thousand  persons  were  added  to 
the  Baptist  churches  of  that  State  as  a  result  of  the 
revival.  From  1800  to  1803  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  received  about  forty  thousand  acces- 
sions to  membership  throughout  the  country,  and 
there  was  scarcely  a  religious  denomination  which 
did  not  share  in  the  fruits  of  this  remarka- 
ble revival. 

More  remarkable  than    numbers   were   the  evi- 


102  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

deuces  of  renewed  spiritual  life  throughout  the  coun- 
try. In  the  West  the  reformation  in  the  morals  of 
the  people  attracted  widespread  attention.  In  a  ser- 
mon preached  before  the  synod  of  Kentucky  in  1803, 
Rev.  David  Rice  said:  "Neighborhoods  noted  for 
their  vicious  and  profligate  manners  are  now  as 
much  noted  for  their  piety  and  good  order.  Drunk- 
ards, profane  swearers,  liars,  quarrelsome  persons, 
etc.,  are  remarkably  reformed." 

In  New  England  the  revival  was  attended  with 
consequences  of  abiding  significance.  The  last  rem- 
nants of  the  ill-advised  Half-Way  Covenant  were 
swept  away.  The  perilous  transition  of  the 
churches  from  State  aid  to  self-support  was  success- 
fully made.  A  crisis  was  reached  between  the  liberal 
and  evangelical  wings  of  Congregationalism,  which 
resulted  in  the  Unitarian  schism.  The  cleavage  be- 
tween the  orthodox  and  liberal  elements  in  the 
church  dates  back  to  pre-Revolutionary  times,  and 
by  many  has  been  supposed  to  have  been  an  out- 
growth of  the  movement  which  produced  the  Half- 
Way  Covenant.  Be  this  as  it  may,  certain  it  is 
that  during  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
several  prominent  ministers  in  Massachusetts  were 
avowedly  Arian  in  their  sentiments.  The  Awaken- 
ing of  1800  resulted  in  the  permanent  separation  of 
these  parties,  thus  permitting  each  to  perform  its 
own  mission  without  being  hampered  by  what  other- 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.         103 

wise  would  have  been  an  irrational  element  in  its 
activity.  More  important  still  was  the  institution  of 
the  mid-week  prayer  meeting  and  the  establishment 
of  Sunday  schools,  which,  having  originated  with 
Robert  Raikes  in  England,  were  now  introduced 
into  this  country,  and  were  destined  to  become  a 
source  of  fresh  life  and  power  not  only  to  the 
churches  of  New  England  but  to  the  various  de- 
nominations throughout  the  country. 

Although  the  immediate  consequences  of  the  re- 
vival differed  somewhat  in  different  localities,  the 
general  results  were  everywhere  the  same.  The 
morals  of  the  country  were  reformed,  the  churches 
were  quickened,  and  their  influence  flowed  forth  in 
new  channels  of  spiritual  power,  so  that  religion  be- 
came a  more  potent  factor  in  our  national  life,  while 
the  church  as  an  organized  force  was  girded  with 
strength  sufficient  to  enter  the  arena  and  engage  in 
deadly  combat  with  the  flagrant  public  evils  of  the 
day — duelling,  intemperance  and  slavery. 

Unlike  the  Great  Awakening,  this  revival  was 
long  in  subsiding,  and  was  not  attended  by  dis- 
astrous consequences,  which  were  calculated  to  pro- 
duce strife  and  dissension.  In  the  West,  to  be  sure, 
there  had  been  outcries,  faintings,  "falling  under  the 
power  of  God,"  etc.,  which  would  not  have  com- 
mended themselves  to  the  more  sober-minded 
brethren  of  the  East,  but,  occurring  as  they  did  in 


104  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

the  newer  communities  and  among  unlettered  and 
uncultured  people,  these  exercises  not  only  produced 
no  ill  effects  but  rather  seemed  to  promote  the  re- 
vival. In  the  East  the  work  was  characterized  by 
an  entire  absence  of  these  objectionable  features 
which,  in  the  Great  Awakening,  had  brought  about 
an  unfavorable  reaction  and  had  caused  that  revival 
to  come  to  a  speedy  end. 

The  work  of  grace  wrought  in  this  Awakening 
was  deep  and  lasting,  the  influences  of  which  ex- 
tended down  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, and  were  manifest  in  the  numerous  and  wide- 
spread revivals  which  prevailed  throughout  that 
period.  Rev.  Gardiner  Spring,  D.D.,  speaking  of 
this  phase  of  the  revival,  said  :  "From  the  year  1800 
down  to  the  year  1825  there  was  an  uninterrupted 
series  of  these  celestial  visitations  spreading  over 
different  parts  of  the  land.  During  the  whole  of 
these  twenty-five  years  there  was  not  a  month  in 
which  we  could  not  point  to  some  village,  some  city, 
some  seminary  of  learning,  and  say,  'Behold,  what 
hath  God  wrought !'  "* 

Third — The  Inauguration  of  Great  Missionary 
and  Philanthropic  Enterprises.  American  foreign 
missions  are  indebted  for  their  origin  to  Samuel  J. 
Mills.  Entering  Williams  College  in  1806,  in  com- 
pany with  other  students  he  instituted  a  missionary 

*  Memoirs f  Vol.  I.,  p.  160. 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.         105 

prayer  meeting,  and  from  this  humble  beginning  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions  was  evolved  in  1810.  Mills  was  a  convert 
of  the  Awakening  and  his  father  was  an  active  pro- 
moter of  the  same.  Judson,  Rice,  Nott,  Newell, 
Hall,  and  others  who  were  associated  with  him  and 
who  became  the  first  missionaries  of  the  American 
Board,  with  scarcely  an  exception  were  converted  in 
the  revival.  Other  missionary  societies  were  organ- 
ized about  this  time,  the  Baptist  in  181 4  and  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  in  1819. 

Home  missions  received  a  fresh  impetus  through 
this  awakening.  As  early  as  1798  the  Connecticut 
Missionary  Society  was  formed,  the  purpose  of 
which  was  "to  Christianize  the  heathen  in  North 
America,  and  to  support  and  promote  Christian 
knowledge  in  the  new  settlements  within  the 
United  States."  The  revivals  in  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky  gave  a  mighty  impulse  to  home  mission- 
ary activity  which  found  expression  in  the  efforts  of 
various  denominations  to  evangelize  the  growing 
territories  in  the  West.  For  the  furtherance  of  this 
work  Bible  and  Tract  societies  were  formed  that  the 
light  of  the  Gospel  might  be  made  to  shine  in  the 
dark  places.  In  1814  the  New  England  Tract  So- 
ciety, which  in  1823  changed  its  name  to  the  Ameri- 
can Tract  Society,  was  formed,  and  in  18 16  the 
American    Bible   Society   was   organized,    both   of 


106  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

which  are  the  undoubted  products  of  the  fresh  re- 
ligious life  awakened  by  the  revival. 

Greater  attention  was  now  devoted  to  ministerial 
education.  Theological  seminaries  were  instituted 
and  educational  societies  were  organized  to  give 
financial  assistance  to  pious  youths  who  were  pre- 
paring themselves  for  the  work  of  the  gospel  min- 
istry. The  Congregationalists,  who  were  the 
pioneers  in  Christian  education,  founded  Andover 
Theological  Seminary  in  1808  and  the  American 
Education  Society  in  181 5.  Other  denominations 
were  not  long  behind  them,  and  by  1827  seventeen 
theological  seminaries,  under  the  auspices  of  several 
different  denominations,  had  been  instituted  in 
various  parts  of  the  country. 

The  quickened  spiritual  life  of  the  period  gave  an 
impulse  to  religious  journalism,  which  has  affected 
profoundly  the  religious  life  of  our  country.  About 
the  year  1800  numerous  monthly  periodicals  ap- 
peared, and  in  181 6  the  Boston  Recorder,  the  first 
weekly  religious  newspaper  in  the  world,  was 
founded  in  the  interests  of  Congregationalism.  The 
same  year  the  Religious  Intelligencer  was  published 
at  New  Haven.  Others  soon  followed:  The 
Watchman  (Baptist),  at  Boston  in  1819;  Zion's 
Herald  (Methodist),  at  Boston  in  1822;  The  Morn- 
ing Star  (Free  Will  Baptist),  Dover,  N.  H.,  in 
1826,  etc.     By  1830  nearly  all  of  the  different  re- 


THE  AWAKENING  OF   1800.  107 

ligious  denominations  in  the  country  had  one  or 
more  weekly  journals  to  represent  their  respective 
interests. 

In  view  of  the  remarkable  results  which  attended 
the  Awakening  of  1800,  its  salutary  and  long-con- 
tinued influence  upon  the  religious  life  of  the  Ameri- 
can republic,  the  wide  scope  of  territory  covered  and 
the  numbers  which  were  reached  by  its  quickening 
power,  this  revival  was  fully  as  remarkable  as  any 
which  has  ever  refreshed  the  life  of  the  churches  on 
the  American  continent. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

DENOMINATIONAL     MOVEMENTS!     THE     CONGREGA- 
TIONALISTS     AND     PRESBYTERIANS. 

The  revival  movements  of  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  were  chiefly  along  denomina- 
tional lines.  It  was  an  era  of  denominational 
growth  and  development.  While  sectarian  lines 
were  not  always  tightly  drawn,  in  the  main,  each  de- 
nomination sought  to  promote  and  perpetuate  its 
own  interests.  The  Congregationalists  and  Presby- 
terians had  much  in  common,  both  in  their  history 
and  in  their  doctrines.  Both  were  the  products  of 
Puritanism,  and  both  adhered  pretty  closely  to  the 
theological  system  of  John  Calvin. 

It  seemed  logical,  therefore,  that  they  should  en- 
ter into  still  closer  relations  in  what  was  known  as 
the  "Plan  of  Union,"  an  agreement  entered  into  in 
1 80 1  on  the  part  of  the  Congregational  Association 
of  Connecticut  and  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  whereby  churches  and  mem- 
bers of  both  denominations  should  co-operate  in 
their  home  missionary  work  throughout  the  new  set- 
tlements and  new  States,  which  were  then  springing 


CONGREGATIONALISTS.  109 

into  existence  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains. 
The  ultimate  outcome  of  this  "Plan  of  Union"  was 
the  Presbyterianizing  of  hundreds  of  churches  in 
these  regions,  which  otherwise  would  have  been 
Congregational.  It  must  not  be  supposed,  however, 
that  the  Presbyterians  took  an  unfair  advantage  of 
this  "Plan  of  Union."  As  a  real  matter  of  fact,  the 
stronger  polity  of  the  Presbyterians  seemed  better 
adapted  to  meet  the  needs  of  these  new  settlements, 
and  this  coupled  with  an  indifference  to  their  own 
polity  on  the  part  of  the  Congregationalists, 
wrought  havoc  to  the  denominational  interests  of 
the  latter. 

The  real  value  of  this  "Plan  of  Union"  was  its 
purpose  to  promote  a  mutual  understanding  and  a 
mutual  co-operation  of  these  two  denominations,  a 
purpose  which  for  many  years  was  admirably  ful- 
filled, and  if  in  the  end  it  worked  disastrously  to  the 
Congregationalists,  it  displayed  a  magnanimity  on 
their  part  which  stands  unparalleled  in  religious  his- 
tory. 

Aside  from  their  home  missionary  activity,  the 
distinctively  revival  movements  of  these  denomina- 
tions center  about  certain  noted  men,  whose  services 
were  expended  in  behalf  of  the  churches  of  both  de- 
nominations. Since  the  time  of  Whitefield  there  had 
been  in  this  country  no  evangelist  of  national  reputa- 
tion.    The  Awakening  of   1800  had  been  brought 


no  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

about  and  had  accomplished  its  results  indepen- 
dently of  such  workers.  But  during  the  first  half  of 
the  new  century  three  evangelists  of  national  and 
even  international  renown,  Asahel  Nettleton, 
Charles  G.  Finney,  and  Edward  N.  Kirk,  labored  in 
Congregational  and  Presbyterian  circles. 

The  earliest  of  these,  Asahel  Nettleton,  was  born 
in  North  Killingworth,  Conn.,  April  21,  1783.  His 
parents  were  members  of  the  church  on  the  Half- 
Way  Covenant  plan,  in  accordance  with  which  he 
was  baptized  and  as  a  child  received  instruction  in 
the  Westminster  Catechism,  which  he  was  required 
to  commit  to  memory. 

In  his  youth  he  was  often  subject  to  religious  im- 
pressions, but  these  were  not  lasting.  His  first  real 
seriousness  occurred  in  November,  1800,  on  the 
morning  following  a  Thanksgiving  ball.  While  re- 
flecting on  the  pleasures  of  the  preceding  evening, 
the  thought  struck  him  "we  must  all  die,  and  go  to 
the  judgment,  and  with  what  feelings  shall  we  then 
reflect  upon  these  scenes !"  The  impression  was  over- 
whelming. His  pleasures  were  robbed  of  their  fas- 
cination and  he  was  overcome  with  a  sense  of  his 
lost  condition.  The  world  ceased  to  be  attractive 
and  he  turned  his  attention  to  a  study  of  the  Bible 
and  other  religious  books.  This  pursuit  served  only 
to  deepen  his  convictions,  and  at  tim^s  he  gave  way 
to  doubt  and  black  despair.     After  a  period  of  ten 


PRESBYTERIANS.  in 

months,  during  which  he  passed  through  a  religious 
experience  as  profound  as  that  of  an  Augustine  or 
a  Luther,  he  found  joy  and  peace  in  believing.  Said 
his  biographer :  "This  protracted  season  of  convic- 
tion gave  him  a  knowledge  of  the  human  heart 
which  few  possess;  and  which  was  doubtless  in- 
tended by  God  to  prepare  him  for  that  pre-eminent 
success  which  attended  his  labors  as  a  minister  of 
Christ."* 

After  his  conversion  it  became  Nettleton's  pur- 
pose to  go  as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen.  To  ac- 
complish this  purpose  he  mastered  the  preparatory 
studies,  privately,  and  in  1805  entered  the  freshman 
class  at  Yale  College.  As  a  student  he  never  evinced 
any  special  brilliancy  of  mind,  but  such  was  his  de- 
vout spirit  and  such  was  his  devotion  to  duty  that 
President  Dwight  said  of  him :  "He  will  make  one 
of  the  most  useful  men  this  country  has  ever 
seen." 

During  the  winter  of  1807- 1808  New  Haven  and 
the  college  were  visited  with  a  revival,  which  awak- 
ened a  lively  interest  on  the  part  of  Nettleton,  who 
labored  for  the  conversion  of  his  fellow  students 
with  no  small  degree  of  success. 

In  his  junior  year  he  became  acquainted  with 
Samuel  J.  Mills,  who  was  then  a  student  at  Willams 
College.     The  year  following  Mills  was  a  resident 

*  Memoirs,  p.  23. 


ii2  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

graduate  at  Yale,  thereby  affording  an  opportunity 
for  mutual  acquaintance  and  fellowship.  It  was  the 
intention  of  both  to  go  to  Andover  Theological 
Seminary  at  the  expiration  of  the  year,  after  which 
they  purposed  to  enter  the  missionary  field  as  soon 
as  the  way  should  open.  Financial  embarrass- 
ments prevented  Nettleton  from  carrying  this  plan 
into  execution.  Having  graduated  at  Yale  he  re- 
mained a  year  as  butler  of  the  college,  after  which  he 
pursued  his  theological  course  privately  at  Milton, 
Conn.,  under  the  direction  of  Rev.  Bezaleel  Pinneo. 
Not  long  after  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  West 
Association  of  New  Haven  County.  It  was  still  his 
purpose  to  spend  his  life  as  a  missionary  to  the 
heathen,  but  so  conspicuous  was  his  success  in  the 
ministry  that  he  was  persuaded  to  defer  his  purpose 
for  a  while,  and  it  was  not  until  the  failure  of  his 
health  in  1822  that  he  finally  relinquished  all  hope 
of  going  to  a  foreign  field. 

For  a  time  after  his  licensure  to  preach  Nettleton 
was  engaged  in  missionary  and  evangelistic  labors 
in  desolate  and  neglected  districts  in  Eastern  Con- 
necticut and  Rhode  Island.  This  region  had  been 
the  scene  of  Davenport's  distractions  during  the 
Great  Awakening.  The  evil  results  of  fanaticism 
were  still  apparent.  If  the  young  evangelist's  labors 
were  not  so  successful  as  his  subsequent  efforts,  the 
experience  was  a  valuable  one  and  served  to  put  him 


CONGREGATIONALISTS.  1 1 3 

on  his  guard  against  those  extravagances  to  which 
youth  is  susceptible  and  was  an  impressive  object 
lesson  against  the  innovations  which  had  wrought 
ruin  to  Davenport  and  his  deluded  followers. 

From  181 2- 1 81 5  he  labored  with  excellent  results 
at  various  places  in  Connecticut  and  New  York.  In 
the  summer  of  181 5  he  went  to  Salisbury  and  of  the 
revival  there  he  wrote  as  follows : 

"In  181 5,  in  the  town  of  Salisbury,  Conn.,  after 
laboring  awhile  under  great  discouragement,  there 
were  some  favorable  appearances.  A  number  were 
anxious,  and  a  few  were  in  awful  distress  of  soul  in 
one  village.  It  was  taken  hold  of  by  some  ignorant 
officious  hands;  and  they  were  set  to  groaning  and 
screaming,  and  alarmed  all  the  village  in  my  ab- 
sence. Having  heard  the  tidings,  I  hastened  to  the 
spot,  and  with  kind,  but  decided  severity  called  them 
to  order.  My  attempts  by  those  who  had  given  the 
work  that  turn,  were  considered  as  very  obtrusive 
and  daring.  It  was  reported  all  over  town  that  a 
revival  had  begun  in  Salisbury,  and  that  I  had  put 
a  stop  to  it.  They  seemed  to  be  much  grieved  and 
shocked  at  my  conduct.  It  took  a  number  of  days 
to  restore  order,  but  when  it  was  done,  the  work  of 
God  advanced  silently  and  powerfully,  until  all 
classes,  old  and  young,  were  moved  all  over  town. 
The  language  was,  'the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
are  broken  up.'     Not  far  from  three  hundred  were 


ii4  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

numbered  as  the  hopeful  subjects  of  divine  grace  in 
that  revival."* 

So  great  was  the  interest  and  so  deep  the  concern 
that  religion  became  the  all-absorbing  topic  of  the 
day.  When  Mr.  Nettleton  in  his  visitations  was 
seen  to  enter  a  house,  the  whole  neighborhood  would 
flock  thither.  Mechanics  would  leave  their  shops, 
farmers  would  forsake  their  fields,  and  housewives 
would  abandon  their  domestic  duties  to  inquire  the 
way  of  salvation. 

Having  spent  the  winter  at  Salisbury,  in  the 
spring  he  labored  at  Bridgewater,  where  a  dead 
church  was  revived  and  numbers  were  converted. 

From  1816-1819  he  visited  successively  Torring- 
ton,  Waterbury,  Upper  Middletown,  Rocky  Hill, 
Ashford,  Eastford  and  Bolton.  In  July,  1819,  worn 
out  with  his  labors,  Nettleton  repaired  to  Saratoga 
Springs,  N.  Y.,  in  the  hope  of  recovering  his  health. 
A  few  weeks  later  he  was  induced  to  engage  in  re- 
vival work  in  that  vicinity.  The  whole  region  was 
profoundly  moved  and  fully  two  thousand  souls 
were  converted.  While  the  revival  was  still  in  prog- 
ress Mr.  Nettleton  wrote  an  account  of  this  work, 
which  in  part  was  as  follows : 

"This  region,  and  especially  the  county  of  Sara- 
toga, has  heretofore  been  as  destitute  of  revivals  of 
religion  as  any  part  of  the  State.     The  commence- 

*  Memoirs,  p.  71. 


PRESBYTERIANS.  115 

ment  of  this  work  was  at  Saratoga  Springs  last 
summer.  At  that  place  about  forty  have  made  a 
profession  of  religion.  These  include  some  of  the 
most  respectable  characters  in  the  village.  Directly 
south  is  the  town  of  Malta.  For  a  number  of  years 
there  has  been  no  Presbyterian  church  in  that  place. 
But  for  the  year  past  there  has  been  an  interesting 
revival  among  that  people.  A  church  has  been  re- 
cently organized,  which  now  consists  of  one  hundred 
and  five  members.  .  .  .  South  from  Malta,  about 
twelve  miles,  is  the  city  of  Schenectady,  and  Union 
College,  where  I  now  reside  with  Dr.  McAuley. 
About  thirty  of  the  students  have  been 
brought  to  rejoice  in  hope.  Besides  these  we  had 
more  than  two  hundred  in  our  meeting  of  inquiry, 
anxious  for  their  souls.  We  met  in  a  large  upper 
room  called  the  Masonic  Hall.  The  room  was  so 
crowded,  that  we  were  obliged  to  request  all  who 
had  recently  found  relief  to  retire  below  and  spend 
their  time  in  prayer  for  those  above.  This  evening 
will  never  be  forgotten.  The  scene  is  beyond  de- 
scription. Did  you  ever  witness  two  hundred  sin- 
ners with  one  accord  in  one  place  weeping  for  their 
sins?  Until  you  have  seen  this,  you  can  have  no 
adequate  conceptions  of  the  solemn  scene.  .  .  . 
Within  a  circle  whose  diameter  would  be  twenty- 
four  miles,  not  less  than  eight  hundred  souls  have 
been  hopefully  born  into   the  kingdom  of  Christ, 


n6  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

since  last  September.  The  same  glorious  work  is 
fast  spreading  into  other  towns  and  congrega- 
tions."* 

Leaving  the  region  where  he  had  labored  with 
such  conspicuous  success,  in  the  spring  of  1820  Net- 
tleton  conducted  revivals  at  Nassau  and  New 
Haven,  whence  the  work  extended  to  the  regions 
round  about,  resulting  in  the  conversion  of  nearly 
two  thousand  persons. 

From  1 820- 1 822  he  labored  at  North  Killing- 
worth,  North  Madison,  Wethersfield,  Newton, 
Farmington,  Pittsfield,  Litchfield,  and  again  at  New 
Haven.  Numbers  were  converted  at  these  various 
places  and  great  good  was  accomplished. 

On  May  22,  1822,  he  commenced  evangelistic 
services  in  Sommers,  preaching  alternately  at  South 
Wilbraham,  and  visiting  in  the  meanwhile  Tolland 
and  other  places  in  the  vicinity.  As  a  result  of  the 
work  thus  inaugurated  a  revival  visited  this  section 
of  Connecticut  resulting  in  the  conversion  of  more 
than  fifteen  hundred  souls.  While  the  revival  was 
still  in  progress,  a  serious  attack  of  typhoid  fever 
compelled  his  retirement  for  two  years,  during 
which  he  compiled  his  Village  Hymns,  which  had  a 
wide  sale  throughout  the  country.  Dr.  Nettleton 
never  fully  recovered  from  this  illness.  His  health 
was  left  in  such  a  shattered  condition  that  he  could 


*  Memoirs,  pp.  95-97. 


CONGREGATIONALISTS.  117 

endure  but  little  excitement  or  fatigue,  although  he 
labored  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  as  much  as 
his  enfeebled  condition  would  allow,  until  his  death, 
May  16,  1844. 

Dr.  Nettleton's  methods  were  remarkably  sane 
and  discriminating.  He  had  an  abhorrence  of  any- 
thing that  savored  of  fanaticism.  His  doctrines 
conformed  to  the  Calvinistic  standards  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived.  He  emphasized  a  dependence  upon 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  indispensable  condition  of  a 
revival.  Ministers  and  churches  were  not  en- 
couraged to  try  and  get  up  a  revival,  but  when 
sovereign  grace  gave  indications  that  the  set  time 
to  favor  Zion  was  come  he  believed  in  a  wise  and 
faithful  use  of  means.  To  this  end  he  made  use  of 
preaching,  house-to-house  visitation,  and  inquiry 
meetings  for  enforcing  the  truth  and  instructing 
seekers.  The  results  of  his  work  were  invariably 
lasting.  Of  the  thousands  converted  under  his 
preaching,  so  well  were  they  grounded  in  the  funda- 
mentals of  the  Christian  faith,  that  very  few  after- 
wards fell  away  into  apostasy. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CHARLES     GRANDISON     FINNEY.* 

Charles  Grandison  Finney,  the  greatest  of 
American  revivalists,  was  born  in  Warren,  Litch- 
field County,  Conn.,  August  29,  1792.  Two  years 
later  his  parents  removed  to  the  State  of  New  York, 
where  his  boyhood  was  spent  in  Oneida  and  Jeffer- 
son Counties.  He  received  a  common  school  educa- 
tion and  at  the  age  of  twenty  returned  to  his  native 
town  in  Connecticut  to  attend  an  academy  or  high 
school.  He  afterwards  studied  law  at  Adams,  N.  Y., 
where  in  due  time  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

At  Adams,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  he  was 
brought  under  religious  influences.  Hitherto  his 
religious  privileges  had  been  meager.  He  said: 
"When  I  went  to  Adams  to  study  law,  I  was  almost 
as  destitute  of  religion  as  a  heathen.     I  had  been 

*  The  subject  of  this  chapter  labored  chiefly  in  Presbyterian 
and  Congregational  circles,  but  so  epoch-making  was  his  work, 
and  so  far-reaching  was  its  influence  that  it  could  not  with 
propriety  be  regarded  as  denominational,  and  for  that  reason  a 
separate  chapter  is  devoted  to  his  life. 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     119 

Drought  up  mostly  in  the  woods.  I  had  little  regard 
to  the  Sabbath,  and  had  no  definite  knowledge  of 
religious  truth." 

Here  he  was  brought  under  the  preaching  of  Rev. 
George  W.  Gale,  a  Presbyterian  of  an  ultra-Calvin- 
istic  type.  He  was  an  educated  man  and  a  graduate 
of  Princeton,  but  to  Finney  his  discourses  were  a 
source  of  perplexity  rather  than  of  edification.  He 
would  frequently  call  upon  the  young  lawyer  to  en- 
gage him  in  religious  conversation,  but  such  were 
the  objections  which  the  latter  raised  to  his  theology 
that  the  minister  reached  the  conclusion  that  he 
must  be  thoroughly  hardened,  and  when  some  of  the 
members  of  his  congregation  proposed  making 
Finney  the  subject  of  prayer  he  discouraged  the  idea 
because  he  believed  it  would  be  useless. 

About  this  time  Finney  purchased  his  first  copy  of 
the  Bible.  In  his  law  studies,  he  had  found  frequent 
reference  to  the  Mosaic  Institutes  as  an  authority  for 
many  of  the  principles  of  common  law.  His  curi- 
osity having  become  aroused  he  purchased  a  copy  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures.  A  perusal  of  its  contents 
convinced  him  that  it  was  what  it  claimed  to  be — 
the  Word  of  God. 

The  question  soon  came  up  for  serious  considera- 
tion, whether  he  should  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  his 
Saviour,  or  continue  the  pursuit  of  a  worldly  life. 
On  a  Sabbath  evening  in  the  autumn  of  1821,  he 


120  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

reached  the  conclusion  that  he  would  at  once  settle 
the  question  of  his  soul's  salvation,  and  if  possible 
make  his  peace  with  God.  The  pursuit  of  this  ob- 
ject served  but  to  deepen  his  convictions  and  by 
Tuesday  night  he  had  been  brought  to  a  condition 
well-nigh  verging  on  despair.  The  following 
morning,  as  he  was  going  to  his  office,  an  inward 
voice  seemed  to  reprove  him  with  these  admoni- 
tions: "What  are  you  waiting  for?  Did  you  not 
promise  to  give  your  heart  to  God?  And  what  are 
you  trying  to  do?  Are  you  endeavoring  to  work 
out  a  righteousness  of  your  own?" 

A  consideration  of  these  problems  led  to  the  con- 
viction that  salvation  was  a  gift,  not  to  be  wrought 
out  by  works,  but  to  be  appropriated  through  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ.  The  question  then  seemed  to  be 
put  to  his  mind,  "Will  you  accept  it  now,  to-day?" 
He  replied,  "Yes :  I  will  accept  it  to-day,  or  I  will 
die  in  the  attempt."  As  a  place  suited  to  his  purpose 
he  sought  the  cover  of  a  forest,  north  of  the  village, 
where  he  had  been  in  the  almost  daily  habit  of  walk- 
ing in  pleasant  weather.  To  escape  observation  he 
skulked  along  under  the  fence,  but  when  he  reached 
a  secluded  spot  and  tried  to  pray  he  could  not.  His 
heart  refused  to  pray,  and  after  repeated  attempts, 
he  fancied  that  he  heard  a  rustling  in  the  leaves,  and 
opening  his  eyes  to  see  if  any  one  were  present,  he 
was  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  his  wickedness  in 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     121 

being  ashamed  to  have  any  human  being  see  him  on 
his  knees  before  God.  In  an  agony  of  spirit  he  cried 
aloud  to  God  for  mercy.  At  this  juncture  a  passage 
of  Scripture  was  suggested  to  him :  "Then  shall  ye 
go  and  pray  unto  me,  and  I  will  hearken  unto  you. 
Then  shall  ye  seek  me  and  find  me,  when  ye  shall 
search  for  me  with  all  your  heart."  Other  passages 
came  to  his  mind,  and  for  a  long  time  he  continued 
to  pray  and  appropriate  promises  continued  to  come 
to  his  mind  until  with  a  light  heart  he  started  back 
to  his  office  with  this  thought  uppermost  in  his 
mind:  "If  I  am  ever  converted,  I  will  preach  the 
gospel." 

On  reaching  town  he  found  that  the  whole  fore- 
noon had  passed,  but  having  no  appetite  for  dinner 
he  went  to  his  office  and  taking  down  his  bass  viol 
he  began  to  play  and  sing  some  sacred  songs.  His 
heart  seemed  so  melted  at  the  words  and  so  freely 
did  the  tears  flow  that  he  was  obliged  to  desist. 
The  afternoon  was  occupied  with  some  work  in 
moving  the  office  and  in  conversation  with  a  few 
who  came  in.  That  evening  as  he  sat  alone  in  the 
office  a  vision  of  the  Lord  seemed  to  come  before 
him,  and  it  seemed  as  if  he  met  the  Saviour  face  to 
face.  So  real  did  the  vision  appear  that  Finney 
wept  aloud  like  a  child.  Shortly  there  came  upon 
him  a  "mighty  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  and 
wave  after  wave  of  divine  influence  swept  over  him. 


122  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

finally  he  cried  out,  "I  shall  die  if  these  waves  con- 
tinue to  pass  over  me."  "Lord,  I  cannot  bear  any 
more." 

On  the  following  morning,  although  he  had  not 
yet  received  an  assurance  of  sins  forgiven,  he  re- 
ceived a  similar  baptism.  All  his  doubts  were  swept 
away  and  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  was 
taught  him  as  a  present  experience.  He  realized 
that  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  consciousness 
and  guilt  of  sin  were  gone,  and  he  felt  as  free  from 
condemnation  as  though  he  had  never  sinned. 

From  the  moment  of  his  conversion  Finney's  life 
commenced  to  flow  in  a  new  channel.  The  practice 
of  law  suddenly  lost  all  of  its  attractions.  That  very 
morning  a  deacon  of  the  church,  who  had  employed 
him  as  his  attorney  in  a  suit,  came  into  the  office  to 
remind  him  that  the  case  was  to  be  tried  at  10 
o'clock.  Finney  replied  that  he  had  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  Christ  and  had  a  retainer  to  plead  his 
cause,  so  that  he  must  seek  another  attorney  to  at- 
tend the  suit.  The  deacon  dropped  his  head,  and 
immediately  went  out  and  settled  the  case.  He  then 
gave  himself  to  prayer  and  soon  entered  into  a 
deeper  religious  experience  than  he  had  ever  en- 
joyed before. 

Finney's  conversion  was  the  occasion  for  great 
surprise  to  his  acquaintances  at  Adams.  In  fact, 
one  man  had  said  to  his  wife  who  was  a  praying 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     123 

woman :  "If  religion  is  true,  why  don't  you  con- 
vert Finney?  If  you  Christians  can  convert  Finney, 
I  will  believe  in  religion." 

The  report  of  his  conversion  created  such  excite- 
ment that  in  the  evening,  without  any  appointment 
having  been  made,  with  one  accord  the  people 
flocked  to  the  church.  The  building  was  packed, 
but  no  one  seemed  ready  to  open  the  meeting,  where- 
upon Finney  arose  and  narrated  his  experience. 
The  man  who  had  asked  his  wife  why  they  didn't 
convert  Finney  was  present  and  so  agitated  did  he 
become  that  he  went  home  leaving  his  hat.  An  old 
lawyer,  who  during  the  day  had  declared  that  the 
report  of  Finney's  conversion  was  a  hoax,  said,  "He 
is  in  earnest,  there  is  no  mistake ;  but  he  is  deranged, 
that  is  clear."  After  Finney  had  finished  his  narra- 
tive, Rev.  Mr.  Gale,  the  pastor,  arose  and  made  con- 
fession for  having  discouraged  the  church  in  the  pur- 
pose of  making  Finney  a  subject  for  prayer,  and  for 
having  said  on  hearing  of  his  conversion  that  he 
did  not  believe  it. 

From  that  meeting  a  revival  broke  out,  extending 
in  various  directions  and  visiting  many  communities. 
It  is  a  significant  fact  also  that  the  young  people 
with  whom  Finney  had  associated,  with  but  a  single 
exception  were  converted. 

True  to  his  purpose  to  preach  the  gospel,  Finney 
entered  the  home  of  Mr.   Gale,  and  after  a  pro- 


124  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

traded  season  of  study  was  licensed  to  preach  by 
the  Presbytery  in  March,  1824. 

Soon  after  he  was  commissioned  by  a  Woman's 
Missionary  Society  to  labor  for  six  months  in  the 
northern  part  of  Jefferson  County,  N.  Y.  He  began 
his  labors  at  Evans'  Mills,  where  there  was  a  Con- 
gregational and  a  Baptist  Society,  but  there  being 
no  church  edifice  in  the  place,  each  society  occupied 
a  large  stone  school-house  on  alternate  Sabbaths. 
For  this  reason  he  divided  his  labors  between  Evans' 
Mills  and  Antwerp,  a  town  thirteen  miles  distant. 
Having  preached  to  large  congregations  at  Evans' 
Mills  without  results,  at  the  close  of  one  of  his  Sab- 
bath evening  services  he  informed  the  people  that  he 
could  remain  there  no  longer  unless  they  would 
receive  the  gospel.  After  explaining  his  position 
somewhat,  he  asked  all  who  would  accept  the 
Saviour  to  arise,  while  the  remainder  should  keep 
their  seats.  As  he  had  expected  all  kept  their  seats, 
and  after  looking  the  audience  over  for  a  brief  space 
of  time,  he  addressed  them  thus:  "Then  you  are 
committed.  You  have  rejected  Christ  and  his  gos- 
pel ;  and  ye  are  witnesses  one  against  the  other,  and 
God  is  witness  against  you  all.  This  is  explicit,  and 
you  may  remember  as  long  as  you  live,  that  you  have 
publicly  committed  yourselves  against  the  Saviour, 
and  said,  'We  will  not  have  this  man,  Christ  Jesus, 
to  reign  over  us !'  " 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     125 

The  people  were  angered  and  rose,  en  masse,  to 
leave  the  building.  He  paused  and  they  halted  to 
see  why  he  did  not  go  on,  whereupon  he  informed 
them  that  he  was  sorry  for  them,  and  would  make 
one  more  appointment  to  preach  to  them,  the  follow- 
ing night.  All  then  retired  except  a  Baptist  deacon, 
who  approved  Finney's  course  and  told  him  that  he 
had  done  the  very  thing  that  needed  to  be  done  in  or- 
der to  bring  the  people  face  to  face  with  their  sins. 
Conferring  thus  together,  they  agreed  to  spend  the 
following  day  in  fasting  and  prayer — ''separately  in 
the  morning  and  together  in  the  afternoon."  The 
people  were  greatly  enraged  a*  what  they  con- 
sidered an  unfair  advantage,  and  threats  of  vio- 
lence against  Finney's  person  were  heard  during  the 
day. 

According  to  agreement,  the  afternoon  was  spent 
in  prayer  by  Finney  and  the  deacon  together.  As 
they  prayed  they  were  inspired  with  assurances  of 
victory.  That  evening  the  house  was  packed.  Fin- 
ney preached  a  powerful  gospel  sermon  in  which  he 
seemed  to  take  it  for  granted  that  the  people  were 
committed  against  the  Lord.  No  reversal  of  their 
former  action  was  asked.  Another  appointment  was 
given  out  for  the  next  evening.  So  deep  was  the 
conviction  of  the  people  that  Finney  was  sought 
after  several  times  during  the  night,  but  as  he  was 
spending  the  night  away  from  his  customary  lodg- 


126  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

ings  and  could  not  be  found,  his  absence  served  to 
intensify  the  convictions  of  those  who  were  seeking 
him.  The  day  following  he  spent  in  visiting  from 
house  to  house  and  conversing  with  the  people 
about  the  claims  of  the  gospel.  The  revival  which 
followed  was  a  powerful  one,  changing  the  entire 
current  of  the  community.  Almost  every  one  was 
converted.  The  tavern  keeper  of  the  village,  an  infi- 
del and  an  outbroken  sinner,  was  brought  into  the 
fold  and  his  place  was  transformed  into  a  house  of 
prayer.  The  influence  of  this  revival  was  felt  in  sur- 
rounding neighborhoods  and  produced  a  lasting 
effect  for  good. 

In  July,  1824,  the  St.  Lawrence  Presbytery  met  at 
Evans'  Mills,  and  among  other  things  considered  the 
advisability  of  ordaining  Finney.  He  was  asked  to 
preach,  which  he  did  without  preparation  from  the 
text  "Without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord." 
The  sermon  seemed  acceptable  to  those  present, 
although  it  was  the  opinion  of  some  that  Finney 
ought  to  confine  his  efforts  to  school-houses  and 
country  districts.  Little  did  the  members  of  that 
presbytery  dream  that  this  young  lawyer,  who  had 
lately  forsaken  the  practice  of  law,  was  God's  chosen 
vessel  to  bear  the  tidings  of  salvation  not  only  to 
rural  peoples  but  to  the  cultured  and  refined,  that 
they  might  be  gathered  into  his  kingdom.  How- 
ever, it  was  voted  to  ordain  him,  and  in  accordance 


CHARLES  GRANDISON  FINNEY.     127 

with  customary  usages  he  was  solemnly  set  apart  to 
the  work  of  the  gospel  ministry. 

The  first  three  months  of  his  missionary  labors 
were  devoted  chiefly  to  Evans'  Mills  and  vicinity, 
although  tokens  of  good  were  not  wanting  at  Ant- 
werp. Apparently  the  larger  portion  of  his  time 
during  the  second  three  months  was  spent  at  the  lat- 
ter place,  where  a  powerful  revival  was  experienced. 
In  the  outskirts  of  this  place  was  a  neighborhood, 
nicknamed  "Sodom,"  so  called  on  account  of  its 
resemblance  to  Sodom  of  old.  But  a  single  praying 
man  resided  in  the  community,  and  he  had  been 
nicknamed  "Lot."  Finney  was  invited  to  preach  at 
"Sodom"  and  without  knowing  the  circumstances, 
by  a  strange  coincidence  he  selected  as  his  text, 
"Up,  get  you  out  of  this  place;  for  the  Lord  will 
destroy  the  city."  He  vividly  described  the  condi- 
tion of  Sodom,  its  wickedness  and  the  urgency  with 
which  Lot  was  entreated  to  escape.  His  auditors 
supposing  him  to  be  offensively  personal  were  bit- 
terly enraged  against  him.  In  concluding  his  dis- 
course he  said  that  he  understood  that  they  had 
never  had  a  religious  meeting  in  the  place  before, 
so  he  inferred  that  it  must  be  a  very  ungodly  com- 
munity. Taking  this  as  the  ground  for  his  appeal 
and  urging  immediate  repentance,  his  remarks  trans- 
formed their  anger  into  conviction,  which  became 
so  intense  and  powerful  that  the  congregation  began 


128  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

to  fall  on  their  knees  and  cry  for  mercy.  This,  of 
course,  brought  an  end  to  the  sermon.  Finney  asked 
the  old  man  called  "Lot"  to  lead  in  prayer,  but  his 
stentorian  voice  was  lost  amid  the  cries  and  groans 
of  agony  on  the  part  of  the  distressed  congregation. 
Every  one  seemed  to  be  praying  for  himself.  Hav- 
ing an  appointment  elsewhere  that  evening,  the 
preacher  gave  such  directions  as  he  could  and  left 
the  service  in  the  hands  of  "Lot."  So  deep  was  the 
interest  that  the  meeting  lasted  all  night  and  in  the 
morning  some  who  had  not  yet  found  peace 
were  removed  from  the  school-house  to  a  private 
dwelling.  The  revival  was  as  powerful  as  it  was 
remarkable,  and  from  that  day  "Sodom"  was  a  trans- 
formed community.  The  work  was  permanent  and 
genuine,  never  to  Finney's  knowledge  having  been 
followed  by  any  unfavorable  reaction.  Other  neigh- 
borhoods were  visited  with  gracious  revivals  and  a 
strong  church  was  built  up  at  Antwerp,  which  has 
enjoyed  a  prosperous  history  down  to  the  present 
day. 

In  the  spring  of  1825,  while  on  his  way  to  White- 
stone,  Oneida  County,  to  get  his  wife  whom  he  had 
married  the  October  previous  and  from  whom  he 
had  been  separated  all  winter  on  account  of  the 
stress  of  his  work,  he  stopped  at  Le  Rayville  to  have 
his  horse  shod.  The  people  on  learning  of  his  pres- 
ence begged  him  to  make  an  appointment  to  preach 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     129 

at  one  o'clock  that  afternoon  in  the  school-house  as 
there  was  no  church  edifice  in  the  place.  This  he 
consented  to  do  and  arrangements  were  made  for  the 
service.  The  house  was  packed  and  such  was  the 
interest  that  he  decided  to  remain  that  night  and 
preach  again.  The  interest  increasing  at  this  ser- 
vice, he  made  arrangements  with  one  of  the  brethren 
to  take  his  horse  and  cutter  and  go  after  his  wife, 
while  he  continued  the  services  at  Le  Rayville,  where 
a  remarkable  work  of  grace  was  wrought,  which 
extended  over  into  the  adjoining  town  of  Rut- 
land. 

Some  time  previous  to  this  Finney  had  had  a  pre- 
monition that  it  was  his  duty  to  visit  Gouverneur, 
where  considerable  opposition  had  been  manifested 
towards  his  work  at  Antwerp.  This  conviction 
having  deepened,  at  the  close  of  his  labors  at  Le  Ray- 
ville he  decided  to  go  to  Gouverneur,  where  a 
remarkable  revival  resulted  from  his  earnest  presen- 
tation of  gospel  truth. 

Associated  with  Mr.  Finney  at  Gouverneur  was 
the  celebrated  "Father"  Nash,  a  Presbyterian 
clergyman,  whom  he  had  first  met  at  the  presbytery 
which  granted  him  license  to  preach.  Father  Nash 
was  in  a  low  spiritual  state  at  that  time,  but  in  a 
subsequent  illness,  to  use  Finney's  language,  the 
Lord  had  given  him  "a  terrible  overhauling  in  his 
whole  Christian  experience."    Upon  recovery  he  de- 


130  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

voted  himself  with  great  earnestness  to  the  salvation 
of  souls.  He  possessed  remarkable  power  in  prayer. 
It  was  his  habit  to  make  a  "praying  list,"  consisting 
of  the  names  of  those  for  whose  salvation  he  prayed 
daily  and  often  several  times  during  the  day.  The 
answers  to  these  prayers  were  sometimes  almost 
miraculous,  for  he  did  not  confine  his  list  to  those 
whom  he  thought  would  be  reached  by  the  revival, 
but  the  most  obdurate  and  unlikely  cases  were  often 
made  the  subjects  of  prayer,  with  results  that  were 
truly  astounding.  He  frequently  accompanied  Fin- 
ney in  his  labors  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  him 
in  prayer. 

De  Kalb  was  next  visited.  Here  a  bitter  feeling 
had  long  existed  between  the  Methodists  and  the 
Presbyterians.  It  seems  that  a  few  years  before 
the  Methodists  had  enjoyed  a  revival  in  which  there 
were  several  cases  of  "falling  under  the  power  of 
God."  This  had  awakened  an  opposition  on  the  part 
of  the  Presbyterians.  After  Finney  had  commenced 
his  labors,  there  were  a  number  of  instances  of 
"falling  under  the  power  of  God."  Strange  as  it 
may  appear  all  who  fell  "under  the  power"  were 
Presbyterians.  This  led  to  such  confessions  and  ex- 
planations that  a  mutual  conciliation  was  effected. 
Numbers  were  converted  during  this  revival,  and  so 
powerful  was  its  influence  that  it  extended  as  far 
as  Ogdensburg,  sixteen  miles  distant. 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     131 

Leaving  De  Kalb,  Mr.  Finney,  accompanied  by 
his  wife,  went  early  in  October,  1825,  to  Utica  to 
attend  the  synod  of  which  he  was  a  member.  On  his 
return  to  St.  Lawrence  County,  he  was  met  by 
Rev.  G.  W.  Gale,  his  former  pastor  and  theological 
instructor,  who  on  account  of  ill  health  had  retired 
temporarily  from  the  ministry  and  was  then  residing 
on  a  farm  in  the  town  of  Western,  Oneida  County. 
He  importuned  him  to  turn  aside  and  visit  him.  He 
was  also  urged  to  remain  and  preach  the  following 
Sunday,  to  which  he  gave  consent.  The  Presby- 
terian church  was  pastorless  and  in  a  low  state 
spiritually.  The  interest  was  sc  great  on  Sunday 
that  various  meetings  were  appointed  at  surround- 
ing school-houses  during  the  week.  In  the  mean- 
while the  evangelist  was  greatly  exercised  in  prayer. 
Others,  he  found,  were  in  the  same  state  of  mind. 
A  Mrs.  H ,  a  frail  delicate  woman,  was  so  exer- 
cised that  her  husband  became  alarmed  about  her 
condition.  The  following  week  Mr.  Finney  called, 
and  at  the  sound  of  his  voice  she  entered  the  room 
and  with  a  face  lit  up  with  a  heavenly  radiance,  ex- 
claimed, "Brother  Finney,  the  Lord  has  come!  This 
work  will  spread  over  all  this  region!  A  cloud  of 
mercy  overhangs  us  all;  and  we  shall  see  such  a 
work  of  grace  as  we  have  never  yet  seen."  To  her 
husband  this  was  unintelligible,  but  to  Finney  it  was 
an  evidence  of  the  victory  of  prevailing  prayer.    The 


132  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

revival  spread  in  all  directions  to  the  outlying  dis- 
tricts and  extended  towards  Rome  and  Utica. 

While  the  revival  at  Western  was  still  in  progress, 
Rev.  Moses  Gillet,  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
church  at  Rome,  proposed  an  exchange  with  Mr. 
Finney,  who  gave  a  reluctant  consent.  As  the  Sab- 
bath approached,  he  regretted  the  arrangement,  fear- 
ing lest  the  work  at  Western  should  be  retarded 
thereby.  He  went,  however,  and  preached  three  ser- 
mons on  the  Sabbath  day  with  marked  effect.  The 
following  day,  Mr.  Gillet  appointed  an  inquiry 
meeting,  without  announcing  that  Mr.  Finney  would 
be  present,  although  it  was  privately  arranged  that 
he  should  be  in  attendance  at  the  service.  The  meet- 
ing was  largely  attended,  many  of  the  most  intelli- 
gent and  influential  persons  in  the  community 
being  present.  The  interest  was  so  deep  that  there 
was  imminent  danger  of  an  outburst  of  feeling. 
This  Mr.  Finney  sought  to  avoid.  In  language 
plain  but  forcible  he  directed  them  to  Christ  as  their 
only  Saviour.  Following  his  remarks  he  prayed  in 
a  low,  unimpassioned  voice,  and  then  dismissed  them 
with  the  caution  that  all  should  go  home  in  silence. 
At  this  juncture  a  young  man  who  was  present 
fainted  and  there  was  danger  of  others  doing  the 
same.  Finney  thereupon  requested  that  the  door 
should  be  thrown  open  and  that  all  should  retire  at 
once.     Shrieking  was  thus  avoided,  but  the  sighs 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     133 

and  sobs  of  the  convicted  could  be  heard  until  they 
reached  the  street. 

The  next  morning  at  daybreak  there  were  numer- 
ous calls  for  Mr.  Finney  and  Mr.  Gillet.  After 
breakfast  they  set  out,  and  whenever  they  would 
enter  a  house,  the  neighbors  would  rush  in  from  all 
sides  to  inquire  the  way  of  salvation.  So  great  was 
the  interest  that  it  seemed  best  to  appoint  a  public 
meeting  of  inquiry  that  afternoon.  The  house  was 
filled  to  overflowing.  That  night  Finney  preached 
again  and  for  a  space  of  three  weeks  the  services  con- 
tinued. Outlying  districts  were  reached  and  large 
numbers  were  converted.  In  the  village  of  Rome 
nearly  every  one  of  the  lawyers,  physicians,  mer- 
chants and  principal  men  were  brought  into  the 
churches  and  it  was  estimated  that  five  hundred  per- 
sons were  converted  during  Mr.  Finney's  stay. 

Up  to  this  time  Mr.  Finney's  work  had  only  at- 
tracted a  local  attention.  But  the  revival  at  Rome 
may  be  regarded  as  the  commencement  of  a  new  era. 
His  earlier  labors  had  been  in  "home  missionary" 
territory,  but  from  this  time  he  was  to  assume  the 
more  important  role  of  a  general  revivalist.  For  this 
work  he  was  eminently  fitted  by  nature,  and  his 
earlier  labors  had  served  as  a  providential  prepara- 
tion to  introduce  him  to  larger  spheres  of  usefulness. 

While  the  revival  at  Rome  was  still  in  progress 
Mr.  Finney  received  an  invitation  from  Dr.  Aiken 


134  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

of  Utica  to  attend  the  funeral  of  a  prominent  elder 
in  his  church.  Such  an  interest  manifesting  itself 
on  this  occasion  he  was  invited  to  remain.  A  spirit 
of  prayer  had  come  upon  some  of  the  members  of  the 
congregation,  one  woman  in  particular  being  so  ex- 
ercised that  she  could  not  rest  unless  she  was  praying 
for  the  conversion  of  her  friends  and  neighbors. 
This  the  revivalist  took  as  an  indication  that  the 
revival  had  already  commenced  in  this  good 
woman's  heart,  and  as  soon  as  he  could,  he  made 
arrangements  to  transfer  the  field  of  his  operations 
from  Rome  to  Utica.  Within  a  short  time  a  power- 
ful revival  was  effected,  during  the  progress  of 
which  more  than  five  hundred  persons  were  con- 
verted. From  Rome  and  Utica  the  influence  of  the 
revival  extended  to  surrounding  places,  to  many  of 
which  Mr.  Finney  paid  brief  visits.  In  a  report  to 
the  presbytery  it  was  estimated  that  there  had  been 
three  thousand  conversions  as  a  result  of  these 
revivals. 

Two  noteworthy  incidents  characterized  the  work 
at  Utica.  While  the  revival  was  in  progress,  the 
Oneida  Presbytery  convened  with  the  church  in  that 
city.  Among  its  members  were  some  who  strongly 
opposed  revivals.  An  aged  Scotch  minister  in 
particular  made  a  violent  speech,  denouncing  such 
efforts.  His  untimely  words  greatly  shocked  many 
who   were  present.     Fearing  the   ill-consequences 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     135 

which  might  arise,  several  gave  themselves  to  prayer 
that  God  might  counteract  the  effects  of  that  speech. 
The  next  morning  the  man  was  found  dead  in 
his  bed. 

On  visiting  a  neighboring  village  to  preach  one 
evening,  the  following  morning  Mr.  Finney  was 
invited  to  look  through  a  large  cotton  manufactory 
in  the  place.  The  operatives  seemed  greatly  agi- 
tated. On  entering  a  large  room  where  a  number  of 
young  women  were  employed,  a  girl  who  was  trying 
to  mend  a  broken  thread  burst  into  tears  as  he 
passed  by.  At  the  sight  of  her  tears  others  were 
similarly  affected,  whereupon  the  proprietor,  al- 
though not  a  Christian  himself,  gave  orders  to  the 
superintendent  to  "stop  the  mill,  and  let  the  people 
attend  to  religion ;  for  it  is  more  important  that  our 
souls  should  be  saved  than  that  this  factory  run." 
Within  a  few  days  nearly  all  in  the  mill  were  con- 
verted. 

During  the  summer  of  1826  Mr.  Finney  was  in- 
vited to  preach  at  Auburn.  Notwithstanding  a 
great  deal  of  opposition  a  revival  was  effected  which 
was  quite  as  remarkable  as  any  yet  recorded.  The 
work  spread  in  various  directions,  extending  as  far 
as  Skaneateles  and  Cayuga.  The  opposition  at 
Auburn,  however,  took  such  a  violent  turn,  that 
many  of  the  prominent  men  in  Dr.  Lansing's  church, 
where  Mr.  Finney  was  laboring,  withdrew  from  the 


136  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

congregation  and  organized  a  new  church.  Most  of 
them  were  unconverted,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  in  183.1,  while  Mr.  Finney  was  temporarily  de- 
tained at  Auburn  on  account  of  illness,  a  petition 
was  signed  by  these  very  men,  requesting  him  to 
remain  at  Auburn  and  conduct  a  revival  in  their 
church.  In  the  petition  a  note  was  made  of  their 
former  opposition,  but  they  besought  him  to  over- 
look it  and  preach  the  gospel  to  them.  In  response 
to  their  request  he  remained,  with  the  result  that 
nearly  all  who  formerly  had  so  violently  opposed 
him  were  converted. 

From  Auburn  the  revivalist  went  to  Troy  and 
thence  to  New  Lebanon.  For  some  time  there  had 
been  a  growing  opposition  to  the  methods  and  work 
of  Mr.  Finney.  This  had  resulted  chiefly  from  the 
exaggerated  statements  sent  to  the  religious  press 
by  his  enemies.  On  account  of  these  exaggerations, 
many  of  the  eminent  friends  of  revivals  in  New  Eng- 
land, such  as  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  Dr.  Asahel  Net- 
tleton,  Dr.  Joel  Hawes  of  Hartford,  President 
Heman  Humphrey  of  Amherst  College  and  others, 
became  outspoken  in  their  opposition  to  Mr.  Finney, 
for  they  believed  in  all  sincerity  that  the  methods  and 
measures  attributed  to  him  would  work  serious 
injury  to  all  genuine  religious  awakenings.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  allegations  which  had  been 
brought  against  Mr.  Finney  and  his  work  were  un- 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.    137 

true.  The  opposition,  however,  culminated  in  a 
convention  held  at  New  Lebanon,  N.  Y.,  in  July, 
1827.  A  series  of  resolutions  were  passed  con- 
demning the  measures  of  which  Mr.  Finney  and  his 
friends  had  been  accused.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  he 
had  never  used  such  measures,  Mr.  Finney  inquired 
the  purpose  of  the  resolutions.  Dr.  Beecher  replied 
that  they  were  merely  prospective  and  calculated  to 
guard  against  possible  abuses  in  the  future.  With 
this  understanding  Mr.  Finney  gave  approbation  to 
the  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously  adopted. 
Not  satisfied,  however,  some  of  his  enemies  endeav- 
ored to  construe  this  action  as  a  triumph  over  him. 
The  opposition,  which  did  not  at  once  subside,  prob- 
ably interfered  somewhat  with  Mr.  Finney's  useful- 
ness for  a  time,,  but  in  the  end  it  brought  him  into 
greater  prominence  before  the  church  as  a  revivalist 
and  tended  no  doubt  to  prevent  excesses  which 
might  have  arisen. 

Although  the  convention  was  characterized  by 
more  or  less  acerbity  of  feeling,  it  did  not  seriously 
affect  the  work  then  in  progress.  From  New 
Lebanon  the  revival  extended  to  Stephentown, 
which  for  a  time  engrossed  the  attention  of  the  revi- 
valist. In  all  of  these  places — at  Troy,  at  Lebanon, 
and  at  Stephentown,  conversions  were  numerous 
and  lasting  effects  for  good  were  accomplished. 

While  Mr.  Finney  was  laboring  at  New  Lebanon, 


138  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

Rev.  Mr.  Gilbert  of  Wilmington,  Del.,  paid  a  visit  to 
his  father  at  that  place.  So  deeply  impressed  was 
he  with  Mr.  Finney's  work,  that  he  gave  him  an 
urgent  invitation  to  assist  him  in  similar  efforts  at 
Wilmington.  As  soon  as  he  could  terminate  his 
labors  at  Stephentown  he  accepted  the  invitation. 
From  Wilmington  he  was  invited  to  Philadelphia. 
At  first  he  preached  there  twice  a  week,  but  the 
interest  was  such  that  he  decided  to  devote  his  whole 
time  to  that  place.  After  preaching  at  nearly  all  of 
the  Presbyterian  churches  in  the  city  it  was  thought 
best  to  concentrate  his  efforts  in  some  one  church 
centrally  located.  For  this  purpose  a  large  German 
church  was  placed  at  his  disposal  in  the  heart  of  the 
city.  Here  he  labored  for  many  months,  his  congre- 
gations often  numbering  three  thousand  persons  or 
more.  Multitudes  were  converted  and  the  influence 
of  his  work  was  felt  in  every  quarter  of  the  city. 
Mr.  Finney  was  thus  employed  in  Philadelphia,  un- 
til the  winter  of  1829- 1830,  having  spent  in  all  a 
year  and  a  half  in  the  city. 

In  the  spring  of  1829,  while  the  revival  at  Phila- 
delphia was  still  in  progress,  some  lumbermen,  who 
had  come  down  the  Delaware  River  with  their  rafts 
of  lumber,  attended  Finney's  meetings.  Several  of 
these  men  were  converted  and  on  their  return  to  the 
lumber  regions  they  made  known  the  saving  power 
of  the  gospel.     As  a  consequence  a  revival  com- 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     139 

menced  which  extended  along-  the  river  for  eighty 
miles,  and  although  there  was  no  minister  among 
them,  within  a  space  of  two  years  fully  five  thousand 
conversions  were  reported. 

Upon  leaving  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Finney  visited  in 
succession  Reading  and  Lancaster,  Pa.,  and  Colum- 
bia, N.  Y.  Showers  of  refreshing  grace  attended 
his  labors  and  conversions  multiplied  on  every  hand. 

During  the  autumn  of  1830,  while  on  a  visit  to 
Whitestone,  N.  Y.,  he  was  invited  by  Anson  G. 
Phelps,  the  philanthropist,  to  labor  in  New  York 
City.  With  a  great  deal  of  reluctance  he  accepted 
the  invitation.  A  vacant  Presbyterian  church  was 
rented  on  Vandewater  Street,  at  Mr.  Phelps'  ex- 
pense, but  as  it  could  be  procured  but  for  three 
months,  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  a  Universalist 
church  on  Prince  Street  was  purchased  for  his  use 
by  Mr.  Phelps.  Here  he  labored  for  many  months 
with  marked  success,  and  as  the  outgrowth  of  his 
efforts  the  First  Free  Presbyterian  Church  (so- 
called  because  of  its  free  pews)  was  organized. 

In  the  summer  of  1831,  while  again  visiting 
Whitestone,  Mr.  Finney  received  an  urgent  invita- 
tion to  supply  for  a  time  the  Third  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Rochester.  At  first  he  was  indisposed  to 
accept  the  invitation.  The  church  was  in  a  low  state 
spiritually  and  a  spirit  of  dissension  seemed  to  pre- 
vail among  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  the  city. 


140  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

On  consulting  some  of  his  friends  at  Utica,  in  whose 
judgment  he  had  great  confidence,  he  found  that 
their  views  coincided  with  his  own  and  he  resolved 
not  to  go.  A  further  and  more  mature  considera- 
tion of  the  project  convinced  him  that  the  very 
reasons  for  which  he  held  back,  after  all  were  the 
very  reasons  why  he  should  go.  So  he  went  against 
his  own  earlier  impressions  and  the  wishes  of  his 
friends  at  Utica.  A  most  remarkable  awakening 
followed.  At  that  time  Rochester  numbered  but  ten 
thousand  inhabitants  and  yet  in  the  neighborhood  of 
a  thousand  conversions  were  enumerated.  All  of 
the  churches  in  the  city  shared  in  this  gracious  visi- 
tation. During  that  year  more  than  twelve  hun- 
dred members  were  added  to  the  churches  within 
the  bounds  of  the  Rochester  Presbytery,  and  other 
denominations  shared  in  the  results  of  the  re- 
vival. 

Mr.  Finney  conducted  two  subsequent  series  of 
meetings  in  Rochester.  In  1842  while  on  his  way  to 
Oberlin  from  Providence,  R.  I.,  he  stopped  in  the 
city  for  a  day  or  two's  rest  before  proceeding  fur- 
ther. As  soon  as  it  became  known  that  he  was  in 
the  city  he  was  besieged  with  numerous  invitations 
to  preach.  Among  the  earliest  to  approach  him  was 
a  judge  of  the  highest  court  in  the  State,  who  as  yet 
was  not  converted.  A  little  later  the  leading  lights 
of  the  legal  fraternity  united  in  a  petition,  requesting 


CHARLES   GRANDISON   FINNEY.     141 

him  to  give  a  course  of  lectures  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  lawyers.  This  Finney  readily  consented  to  do. 
As  a  result  this  prominent  judge  was  converted,  and 
so  great  was  the  influence  of  his  example  in  going 
to  the  anxious  seat  that  the  lawyers  rose  up  almost 
en  masse,  crowded  into  the  aisles  and  made  use  of  all 
the  available  space  at  the  front,  kneeling  wherever 
they  could.  The  influence  of  this  revival  was  far- 
reaching,  extending  to  the  various  churches  in  the 
city.  In  one  of  the  leading  Episcopalian  churches, 
seventy  prominent  members  of  the  congregation  were 
confirmed,  nearly  all  of  whom  had  been  converted 
under  Mr.  Finney's  preaching.  During  Mr.  Fin- 
ney's labors,  another  revival  was  in  progress  under 
the  leadership  of  Rev.  Jedediah  Burchard,  but  as 
greatly  different  classes  were  reached  by  these  men, 
the  results  of  this  double  spiritual  visitation  were 
highly  beneficial  to  the  city. 

During  the  winter  of  185 5- 1856  Mr.  Finney  was 
again  invited  to  Rochester.  A  short  time  after  his 
arrival  he  was  petitioned  to  give  another  course  of 
lectures  to  lawyers.  He  complied  with  the  request, 
with  results  similar  to  his  preceding  visit.  This 
revival  was  quite  as  marked  as  the  two  former  ones. 
There  were  many  notable  conversions,  including 
some  of  the  most  prominent  personages  of  the  city. 
Of  these  revivals  Mr.  Finney  said :  "What  was 
quite  remarkable  in  the  three  revivals  that  I  have 


142  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

witnessed  in  Rochester,  they  all  commenced  and 
made  their  first  progress  among  the  higher  classes 
of  society,  which  was  very  favorable  to  the  general 
spread  of  the  work,  and  to  the  overcoming  of  oppo- 
sition." 

But  of  these  three  revivals  none  was  more  re- 
markable than  that  first  great  revival  of  1831.  The 
moral  atmosphere  of  the  city  was  greatly  changed. 
Grog  shops  were  closed.  Crime  decreased  and  for 
years  afterwards  the  jail  was  nearly  empty.  The 
only  theater  in  the  city  was  converted  into  a  livery 
stable  and  the  only  circus  into  a  soap  and  candle 
factory.  A  large  number  of  men  prominent  in  busi- 
ness and  social  life  were  brought  into  the  churches. 
It  was  estimated  that  forty  promising  young  men, 
who  had  been  converted  in  that  revival,  entered  the 
ministry.  Not  only  was  Rochester  and  the  sur- 
rounding country  greatly  moved,  but  the  influence 
of  that  revival  was  felt  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  even  extending  across  the  water 
to  England.  One  of  the  most  widespread  revivals 
that  this  country  has  ever  witnessed  was  inaugurated 
thereby.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  afterwards  spoke  of 
this  revival  as  "the  greatest  work  of  God,  and  the 
greatest  revival  of  religion  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen  in  so  short  a  time.  One  hundred  thousand 
were  reported  as  having  connected  themselves  with 
the  churches,  as  the  result  of  that  great  revival,  and 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     143 

this  is  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  church,  and 
of  the  progress  of  religion."* 

After  leaving  Rochester,  as  heretofore  stated,  Mr. 
Finney  conducted  a  second  series  of  meetings  at 
Auburn,  in  the  course  of  which  more  than  five  hun- 
dred persons  were  converted.  Both  at  Rochester 
and  at  Auburn,  Mr.  Abel  Clary,  a  ministerial  licen- 
tiate, was  present  to  aid  in  the  work.  Like  Father 
Nash,  Clary  was  a  man  mightily  given  to 
prayer.  He  never  attended  the  public  services, 
but  while  Finney  was  preaching,  he  was  apart 
by  himself  agonizing  and  praying  for  an  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit  of  God  and  the  salvation  of 
souls. 

Buffalo  and  Providence  were  next  visited  with 
showers  of  blessing  under  the  great  revivalist's  work. 
While  laboring  at  Providence  he  received  an  invita- 
tion from  the  Congregational  ministers  of  Boston, 
Mass.,  to  conduct  services  in  that  city.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  Lyman  Beecher  who  four  years 
before  had  said:  "Finney,  I  know  your  plan,  and 
you  know  I  do;  you  mean  to  come  to  Connecticut 
and  carry  a  streak  of  fire  to  Boston.  But  if  you 
attempt  it,  as  the  Lord  liveth,  I'll  meet  you  at  the 
state  line,  and  call  out  all  the  artillerymen,  and  fight 
every  inch  of  the  way  to  Boston,  and  then  I'll  fight 
you  there/'  now  received  him  with  great  cordiality. 

*  Finney's  Autobiography,  p.  300. 


144  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

The  opposition  which  had  culminated  in  the  New 
Lebanon  Convention  was  now  a  thing  of  the  past 
and  Mr.  Finney's  services  were  sought  on  all  sides. 
In  Boston,  on  account  of  the  influence  of  Unitarian- 
ism,  the  revival  was  not  so  extensive  as  elsewhere, 
notwithstanding  which  there  were  many  notable  con- 
versions. Mr.  Finney  conducted  four  subsequent 
revivals  in  Boston,  in  1842,  1843,  I^56  and  1857. 
The  first  and  second  of  these  were  conducted  in 
Marlborough  Chapel  and  the  last  two  in  the  Park 
Street  Church.  All  of  these  revivals  were  quite  ex- 
tensive and  conversions  were  numerous. 

In  1832  Mr.  Finney  again  went  to  New  York 
City,  where  he  labored  at  the  Chatham  Street  Thea- 
ter, which  had  been  fitted  up  by  Mr.  Lewis  Tappan 
and  others  for  church  purposes,  and  Mr.  Finney  was 
installed  as  its  pastor.  On  recovering  from  a  serious 
illness,  he  inaugurated  a  revival  movement,  preach- 
ing nightly  for  twenty  evenings,  during  which  more 
than  five  hundred  persons  were  converted.  Owing 
to  ill-health,  the  number  of  meetings  was  then 
diminished,  but  the  revival  continued  for  a  space  of 
two  years,  and  as  a  result  seven  new  churches  were 
organized.  A  growing  dissatisfaction  with  the  cen- 
tralized polity  of  the  Presbyterians  induced  Mr. 
Finney  and  his  friends  to  organize  a  Congregational 
Church,  for  which  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  was 
constructed. 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     145 

In  1834  on  account  of  continued  ill-health,  Mr. 
Finney  took  a  trip  to  the  Mediterranean.  An  ab- 
sence of  six  months  found  him  but  little  improved. 
On  his  homeward  voyage  he  was  greatly  exercised 
in  mind  over  the  question  of  revivals  in  America. 
After  wrestling  long  in  prayer  he  was  comforted 
with  the  assurance  that  the  Lord  would  strengthen 
him  and  that  all  would  yet  be  well.  On  his  arrival  at 
New  York  he  resumed  his  labors  at  Broadway  Tab- 
ernacle, with  the  result  that  almost  immediately  a 
revival  of  great  power  commenced,  which  continued 
during  the  remainder  of  his  pastorate. 

It  was  after  his  return  to  New  York  that  he 
delivered  his  celebrated  lectures  on  revivals.  These 
lectures  were  first  published  in  the  New  York 
Evangelist,  which  had  been  established  in  1830  to 
promote  and  extend  the  revivals  in  which  he  had 
engaged.  During  his  absence  abroad,  its  editor  had 
well-nigh  destroyed  the  usefulness  of  the  paper  by 
his  injudicious  attacks  upon  slavery.  Mr.  Finney 
was  an  anti-slavery  man,  but  he  did  not  sympathize 
with  extreme  or  ultra-radical  views.  In  order  to 
strengthen  the  paper  these  lectures,  as  delivered  to 
his  own  congregation,  were  reported  and  printed  in 
the  Evangelist.  Almost  like  magic  the  subscriptions 
began  to  pour  in  and  the  paper  soon  regained  its 
former  influence.  The  lectures  were  then  published 
in  book  form  and  received  an  enormous  circulation, 


146  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

the  first  American  edition  of  12,000  copies  being 
sold  as  rapidly  as  they  could  be  printed.  Large  edi- 
tions were  published  in  England  and  the  work  was 
translated  into  foreign  languages,  and  thus  it  be- 
came instrumental  in  promoting  revivals  throughout 
the  world. 

In  1835  Mr.  Finney  accepted  the  professorship  of 
theology  at  Oberlin.  It  was  his  purpose  to  spend 
but  a  portion  of  his  time  at  Oberlin,  devoting  the 
balance  to  Broadway  Tabernacle  and  to  revival 
work.  For  two  or  three  winters  he  returned  to  New 
York  and  on  other  occasions  labored  elsewhere. 
Reference  has  already  been  made  to  his  subsequent 
efforts  in  Rochester  and  Boston.  It  also  remains 
to  be  said  that  in  connection  with  his  duties  at  Ober- 
lin, he  conducted  extensive  revivals  in  Providence, 
R.  I.,  Cleveland  and  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  Detroit  and 
elsewhere  in  Michigan;  Western,  Rome  and  Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y. ;  and  at  Hartford,  Conn.  During  the 
years  1 849-1 851  he  spent  eighteen  months  in  Eng- 
land, devoting  nine  months  to  London  alone.  In 
1858  he  again  went  to  England,  visiting  Scotland 
also.  Both  of  these  visits  were  the  occasion  of  ex- 
tensive revivals.  After  i860  his  health  would  not 
permit  him  to  engage  in  evangelistic  labors  away 
from  Oberlin,  but  in  the  First  Church,  of  which  he 
continued  to  be  pastor  until  within  three  years  of 
his  death,  his  labors  were  attended  with  gracious 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     147 

quickenings,  the  years  i860,  1866,  and  1867  being 
characterized  by  notable  ingatherings. 

Mr.  Finney's  death  took  place  August  16,  1875. 
He  retained  his  faculties  in  a  remarkable  degree  to 
the  end.  His  last  day  on  earth  was  a  quiet  Sabbath. 
At  sunset  he  walked  out  with  his  wife  to  listen  to  the 
music  at  the  opening  of  the  evening  service  in  the 
church  nearby.  The  worshipers  were  singing, 
"Jesus,  Lover  of  my  Soul."  He  took  up  the  words 
and  sang  with  the  invisible  congregation  to  the  end. 
That  night  upon  retiring  he  was  seized  with  pains 
in  the  heart  and  when  morning  dawned  he  had 
joined  the  choir  invisible  above. 

Notwithstanding  the  hue  and  cry  that  at  one  time 
was  made  over  the  methods  and  measures  of  Mr. 
Finney,  the  means  of  which  he  made  use  for  the  pro- 
motion of  revivals  were  neither  extravagant  nor  ex- 
traordinary. He  did  not  favor  multiplying  meetings 
unnecessarily,  and  advised  adding  to  the  Sabbath 
services  only  "as  many  meetings  during  the  week  as 
could  well  be  attended,  and  yet  allow  the  people  to 
carry  forward  their  necessary  worldly  business." 

During  his  first  revival  at  Rochester  he  first  made 
use  of  the  "anxious  seat"  as  a  means  to  bring  out 
inquirers.  The  purpose  of  this  measure  was  to 
bring  the  unconverted  to  an  immediate  decision  as 
well  as  to  commit  themselves  publicly  to  the  service 
of  Christ.     During  his  six  years'  experience  as  an 


148  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

evangelist,  he  had  often  felt  the  need  of  some  such 
measure,  and  after  the  employment  of  various  ex- 
pedients, the  "anxious  seat"  commended  itself  to  his 
judgment  as  a  means  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
end  desired.  Thereafter  he  made  use  of  the  "anx- 
ious seat"  in  his  services,  except  in  rare  instances, 
where  through  deference  to  local  usages,  it  seemed 
advisable  to  do  otherwise. 

Mr.  Finney's  preaching  was  peculiarly  adapted  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 
The  Calvinistic  teachings  of  God's  sovereignty, 
man's  inability,  divine  election,  etc.,  had  been  so 
emphasized  as  to  lead  to  a  sort  of  fatalism.  Men 
were  taught  that  they  could  do  nothing  to  save  them- 
selves, they  must  wait  God's  time;  if  he  chose  to  save 
them  he  would  do  so,  otherwise  they  would  perish. 
If  they  were  of  the  elect,  in  due  time  the  Holy  Spirit 
would  convert  them,  but  if  they  were  of  the  non- 
elect,  nothing  they  could  do  of  themselves,  nothing 
any  one  else  could  do  for  them  would  avail  for  their 
salvation.  In  consequence  of  such  teachings  an 
alarming  indifference  to  religion  was  prevalent.  The 
current  doctrines  were  made  a  pretext  for  neglecting 
the  claims  of  the  gospel.  When  approached  upon 
the  subject  of  religion,  the  unconverted  would  reply: 
"If  we  are  to  be  saved,  we  shall  be  saved ;  but  if  we 
are  to  be  lost,  we  shall  be  lost."  Sin,  moreover,  was 
taught  as  an  inheritance  of  Adam.     Men  were  not 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     149 

sinners  by  choice  but  by  birth,  and  hence  in  many 
quarters  sin  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  calamity,  for 
which  man  was  in  no  wise  responsible,  and  sinners 
consequently  were  to  be  pitied  rather  than  blamed. 

In  contradistinction  to  these  conceptions  Mr.  Fin- 
ney taught  that  men  were  responsible  for  their  sins; 
they  were  sinners  because  they  chose  to  be ;  the  con- 
sequences of  sin  would  overtake  them,  not  on  account 
of  any  inherited  predisposition  to  sin,  but  because  of 
their  self-determined  transgression  of  God's  law, 
and  their  rebellion  towards  him  and  his  government ; 
instead  of  waiting  God's  time  he  exhorted  men  to 
immediate  repentance ;  God  had  commanded  them  to 
repent,  and  God's  command  implied  man's  ability  to 
do  so;  instead  of  being  unable  to  do  anything  of 
themselves,  sinners  were  required  to  make  for  them- 
selves new  hearts  by  meeting  the  requirements  of  the 
Scriptures  and  making  use  of  the  provisions  of  the 
gospel.  In  all  of  these  teachings  Mr.  Finney  did 
not  overlook  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  was 
the  work  of  the  Spirit  to  reprove  the  world  of  sin, 
of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment.  But,  he  insisted, 
the  Holy  Spirit  works  through  means  and  instru- 
mentalities, and  if  these  are  made  use  of  as  pre- 
scribed by  the  Word  of  God,  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
use  them  in  the  conversion  of  men. 

The  enemies  of  Mr.  Finney  industriously  sought 
to  give  the  impression  that  the  revivals  identified 


150  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

with  his  name  were  neither  deep  nor  lasting,  but 
those  who  were  best  acquainted  with  his  work  have 
given  ample  proof  of  its  permanency  and  power. 
While  there  were  doubtless  some  among  the  vast 
numbers  who  were  converted  under  his  ministry  who 
made  a  shipwreck  of  faith,  and  it  would  have  been 
strange  if  there  were  not,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
the  vast  majority  who  were  converted  under  his 
preaching  were  true  to  their  profession,  and  gave 
abundant  evidence  in  their  subsequent  lives  of  a 
thorough  change  of  heart. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  with  accuracy  the 
results  of  such  a  life  as  that  of  Charles  G.  Finney. 
As  a  revivalist,  as  a  theologian,  and  as  president  of 
Oberlin  College,  he  left  the  impress  of  his  character 
upon  thousands  of  lives  and  contributed  not  a  little 
towards  fashioning  and  shaping  the  Christianity  of 
the  American  Republic,  especially  in  the  northern 
States,  east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Dr.  Cuyler 
said  of  him,  that  he  probably  led  more  souls  to  Jesus 
than  any  man  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  round 
numbers  it  has  been  estimated  that  five  hundred 
thousand  persons  were  converted  through  his  instru- 
mentality. In  addition  to  his  personal  labors,  his 
published  sermons,  Revival  Lectures,  Autobiog- 
raphy, and  other  works  were  not  only  effective  in  the 
promotion  of  revivals  but  in  the  conversion  of  many. 
As  a  theological  professor  his  influence  was  felt  far 


CHARLES  GRANDISON   FINNEY.     151 

and  wide  through  the  young  theologues  whom  he 
had  helped  to  equip  for  their  work  and  who  went  out 
from  the  halls  of  Oberlin  to  preach  the  gospel  and 
promote  revivals  in  the  fields  whithersoever  they  had 
been  called.  During  his  long  connection  with  the 
college  as  president  and  professor,  Mr.  Finney  had 
helped  to  mould  the  lives  and  characters  of  fully 
twenty  thousand  students,  who  went  forth  to  influ- 
ence society  and  bless  the  world.  Thus  we  see  how 
impossible  it  is  to  estimate  the  influence  of  such  a 
life,  an  influence  which  is  likely  to  abide  for  all  time 
to  come,  and  the  full  measure  of  which  eternity  alone 
can  reveal. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

DENOMINATIONAL     MOVEMENTS  I      THE     CONGREGA- 
TIONALISTS  AND  PRESBYTERIANS CONCLUDED. 

Edward  Norris  Kirk,  the  Chrysostom  of  Ameri- 
can evangelists,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  August 
14,  1802.  His  father  was  a  merchant  in  moderate 
circumstances,  and  Edward's  boyhood  alternated  be- 
tween his  father's  home  in  the  city  and  the  home  of 
an  aunt  at  Princeton,  N.  J.  The  early  influences 
with  which  he  was  surrounded  were  decidedly  relig- 
ious, but  the  temptations  of  a  great  city  were  attrac- 
tive, and  although  he  was  by  no  means  vicious,  the 
boy  was  inclined  to  be  wayward  and  intractable.  In 
later  years  the  memory  of  his  youthful  follies  was 
invariably  accompanied  with  the  pangs  of  remorse. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered  the  sophomore  class 
of  Princeton  College.  As  a  student  he  was  distin- 
guished neither  for  his  scholarly  attainments  nor 
for  his  devotion  to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  but  in 
due  time  he  graduated  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen. 

On  his  return  to  New  York  he  entered  the  office 
of  Radcliffe  and  Mason,  where  for  two  years  he 


CONGREGATIONALISTS.  153 

engaged  in  the  study  of  law.  During  this  period  he 
was  a  member  of  a  debating  club,  the  purpose  of 
which  was  the  cultivation  of  public  speaking,  and 
which  numbered  among  its  members  William  H. 
Seward,  Richard  V.  Dey,  and  others  who  subse- 
quently attained  to  prominence  in  public  life. 

This  debating  club  was  the  only  incident  in  his 
life  as  a  law  student  which  seemed  to  give  any 
promise  of  the  future.  Otherwise  his  life  was 
wasted  in  dissipation  and  sin.  He  said :  "Creed, 
political,  social,  religious,  I  had  none;  whatever  I 
had  might  be  thus  expressed — 'Man's  chief  end  is 
to  have  a  good  time;'  and  I  carried  out  my  creed 
with  great  consistency."  If  anything  he  seemed  to 
have  an  aversion  to  religion  and  was  displeased  at 
the  mere  mention  of  it.  The  conversion  of  some  of 
his  college  friends,  however,  affected  him  pro- 
foundly, but  it  was  not  until  the  commencement  of 
the  year  1822  that  his  mind  was  seriously  drawn  to 
the  things  of  God.  A  copy  of  John  Foster's  "Essay 
on  Decision  of  Character"  placed  in  his  hands  by  a 
friend,  led  to  serious  contemplation,  and  a  few 
months  later,  through  the  influence  of  some  young 
men's  meetings  conducted  by  Jared  Waterbury,  he 
was  led  to  give  his  heart  to  God. 

His  conversion  became  the  turning  point  of  his 
career.  The  following  fall  he  entered  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary,  where  for  four  years  he  gave 


154  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

himself  to  earnest  work  in  preparation  for  the 
Christian  ministry.  In  June,  1826,  he  was  licensed 
by  the  Presbytery  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  the  next 
two  years  were  spent  as  an  agent  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  In 
the  prosecution  of  his  duties  he  visited  the  Southern 
and  Middle  States,  meeting  with  considerable  oppo- 
sition, because  the  real  value  of  missions  was  not  yet 
appreciated  and  they  were  often  looked  upon  as 
needless  and  useless.  The  experience  was  a  valuable 
one,  however,  although  he  afterwards  had  occasion 
to  regret  the  lack  of  settled  habits  which  this  work 
fostered. 

In  May,  1828,  Mr.  Kirk  accepted  an  invitation  to 
supply  the  pulpit  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church 
at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  for  the  summer  while  its  pastor, 
Dr.  Chester,  was  seeking  the  recovery  of  his  health. 
Large  and  interested  congregations  flocked  to  listen 
to  the  eloquent  young  preacher.  A  few  weeks  later, 
when  he  was  obliged  to  discontinue  his  labors,  be- 
cause his  fidelity  to  the  truth  and  searching  presen- 
tations of  the  gospel  were  not  acceptable  to  certain 
unconverted  members  of  the  congregation,  a  colony 
of  the  spiritually  minded  withdrew  from  the  mem- 
bership of  the  church  and  formed  the  Fourth  Pres- 
byterian Church,  to  the  pastorate  of  which  Mr.  Kirk 
was  at  once  called.  Revivals  crowned  his  ministry 
and  he  became  noted  far  and  wide  as  a  revival 


PRESBYTERIANS.  155 

preacher,  so  that  his  services  were  frequently  called 
into  requisition  by  neighboring  pastors  to  assist 
them  in  protracted  efforts.  In  1837,  after  a  ministry 
of  more  than  eight  years,  Mr.  Kirk  resigned  his  pas- 
torate. During  these  years  there  had  been  more 
than  a  thousand  accessions  to  his  church,  while  he 
had  found  time  also  to  assist  other  churches  in  sus- 
taining more  than  thirty  revivals,  during  the  prog- 
ress of  which  multitudes  were  converted. 

In  1839,  after  an  absence  of  two  years  abroad,  Mr. 
Kirk  entered  the  evangelistic  field.  During  the  suc- 
ceeding months  he  labored  at  many  of  the  principal 
cities  of  the  Eastern  and  New  England  States,  in- 
cluding Baltimore,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  New 
Haven,  Hartford,  and  Boston.  In  the  latter  place 
he  conducted  three  different  revivals  during  the  two 
years  in  which  he  labored  as  an  evangelist.  In  this 
work  he  was  eminently  successful,  and  many  were 
converted  under  his  labors. 

Early  in  1842  Mr.  Kirk  accepted  a  call  to  the 
newly  formed  Mt.  Vernon  Church  of  Boston  and 
commenced  an  evangelistic  ministry  which  continued 
for  more  than  thirty  years.  Not  a  year  passed  dur- 
ing all  that  time  but  what  additions  were  made  to 
the  church  on  confession  of  faith,  amounting  in  the 
aggregate  to  nearly  seven  hundred  persons.  Among 
those  who  united  on  confession  of  faith  was  one 
destined  in  after  vears  to  lead  multitudes  in  this  and 


156  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

other  lands  to  a  knowledge  of  salvation — Dwight 
Lyman  Moody — who  was  won  to  Christ  through  the 
faithful  efforts  of  his  Sunday  School  teacher,  and 
who  after  a  period  of  probation  was  admitted  to  the 
membership  of  the  church. 

Dr.  Kirk  never  lost  his  interest  in  revivals  and  re- 
vival movements.  During  the  winter  of  1868  he 
delivered  a  series  of  lectures  upon  revivals  before  the 
students  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary.  These 
lectures  were  afterwards  published  in  book  form  and 
received  a  wide  circulation. 

On  March  27,  1874,  Dr.  Kirk  passed  on  to  his 
reward,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  life  and 
after  a  ministry  of  nearly  fifty  years.  Dr.  Kirk  was 
an  ideal  evangelist  for  a  cultured  community.  His 
sermons,  while  scholarly  and  polished,  were  search- 
ing in  their  analysis  and  powerful  in  their  appeal  to 
the  human  heart.  Early  in  life  he  preached  extem- 
poraneously and  with  great  fervor,  but  on  assuming 
the  duties  of  his  Boston  pastorate,  he  adopted  the 
written  style,  which  he  continued  to  the  last.  But 
whether  his  language  was  formed  in  the  glow  of 
delivery  or  in  the  quiet  of  his  study,  he  was  the  same 
man  of  power,  the  same  man  of  prayer. 

Rev.  Daniel  Baker,  D.D.,  an  eminent  evangelist 
of  the  Old  School  Presbyterians,  was  born  of  Con- 
gregational parentage  at  Midway,  Ga.,  August  17, 
1 79 1.     His  mother  dying  in  his  infancy,  he  was  left 


CONGREGATIONALISTS.  1 57 

an  orphan  at  the  age  of  eight  by  the  death  of  his 
father.  As  a  child  he  was  subject  to  profound  relig- 
ious impressions  and  at  an  early  age  was  converted. 
Soon  afterwards  he  found  employment  at  Savannah, 
but  under  the  stress  of  temptations  which  he  there 
met,  for  a  time  his  religious  experience  underwent  a 
cloud,  although  he  often  suffered  from  the  stings  of 
conscience  and  the  pangs  of  bitter  remorse.  Learn- 
ing that  provision  had  been  made  at  Hampden  Syd- 
ney College  for  the  support  of  young  men  having 
the  ministry  in  view,  he  determined  to  avail  himself 
of  its  privileges  and  prepare  himself  for  that  high 
calling.  In  the  summer  of  181 1  he  matriculated  and 
soon  after  united  with  the  college  church.  Owing  to 
the  distractions  of  the  War  of  18 12,  he  remained  at 
Hampden  Sydney  but  a  short  time,  going  thence 
with  other  students  to  Princeton,  where  he  entered 
the  junior  class  in  the  winter  session  of  18 13. 

For  a  period  of  forty  years  Nassau  Hall  had  been 
without  a  revival.  Young  Baker  with  three  pious 
companions,  thinking  that  something  ought  to  be 
done  for  their  unconverted  fellow-students,  estab- 
lished a  weekly  prayer-meeting  to  offer  up  special 
prayer  for  a  revival  of  religion  in  the  college.  This 
was  kept  up  for  some  time  without  results.  Finally 
upon  a  fast  day,  Baker  proposed  to  his  room-mate 
that  they  go  from  room  to  room  and  endeavor  to 
"break  the  bands  of  wickedness,"  which  at  length 


158  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

was  agreed  upon.  That  very  day  some  six  or  eight 
of  the  students  thus  visited  were  converted  and  a 
revival  of  religion  was  inaugurated,  which  in  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks  resulted  in  the  conversion  of 
nearly  half  of  the  students  then  at  Princeton.  When 
the  report  of  this  quickening  was  noised  abroad  it 
gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  revivals  elsewhere. 

In  1815,  having  graduated  from  Princeton  with 
honors,  he  decided  to  study  theology  privately  at 
Winchester,  Va.,  assisting  in  a  Female  Academy  at 
the  same  time.  The  next  few  years  thereafter  were 
spent  in  the  pastorate  at  Harrisonburg,  Va.,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  and  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  in  all  of  which 
there  were  fruitful  revivals  under  his  ministry. 

During  a  great  revival  at  Beaufort,  which  he  con- 
ducted while  pastor  at  Savannah,  and  during  the 
progress  of  which  more  than  three  hundred  persons 
were  converted,  he  decided  to  enter  the  evangelistic 
field  and  was  accordingly  appointed  a  missionary  by 
the  Synod  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  He 
entered  upon  his  new  duties  in  1831,  conducting  pro- 
tracted meetings  at  various  places  in  the  States  men- 
tioned and  also  in  North  Carolina  and  Florida.  The 
year  following  was  spent  in  similar  work  in  Vir- 
ginia, after  which  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Ohio, 
where  he  expected  to  find  a  permanent  home.  Al- 
though he  was  not  a  pro-slavery  man,  nor  at  the 
same  time  an  abolitionist,  the  distractions  over  the 


PRESBYTERIANS.  159 

slavery  question  were  so  irritating  to  him  that 
he  abandoned  his  purpose  and  removed  to  Ken- 
tucky. 

After  spending  some  time  in  the  pastorate  at 
Frankfort,  Ky.,  and  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  in  the  autumn 
of  1839  he  accepted  an  appointment  as  missionary 
to  the  Republic  of  Texas.  Along  the  line  of  his 
journey  he  conducted  protracted  meetings  at  several 
places  with  happy  results.  Reaching  Texas  early  in 
1840  he  spent  several  months  in  missionary  labors, 
which  while  of  a  pioneei  character  were  not  unpro- 
ductive of  good. 

Later  that  same  year  he  accepted  a  call  to  the 
church  at  Holly  Springs,  Miss.,  where  he  remained 
until  June,  1848,  when  he  again  went  to  Texas,  for 
the  spiritual  upbuilding  of  which  he  devoted  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  While  traveling  as  general  mis- 
sionary he  visited  Huntsville  in  August,  1849.  So 
favorably  was  he  impressed  with  the  location  that 
he  broached  to  the  citizens  the  propriety  of  establish- 
ing there  a  Presbyterian  College.  Eight  thousand 
dollars  were  at  once  subscribed  and  the  enterprise 
was  inaugurated.  The  institution  was  named  Aus- 
tin College  in  honor  of  the  great  Texan  pioneer. 
During  the  balance  of  his  life,  until  his  death, 
December  10,  1857,  Dr.  Baker  was  identified  with 
Austin  College,  either  as  its  president  or  financial 
agent.    He  visited  various  portions  of  the  country  in 


160  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

its  behalf,  soliciting  funds  for  its  maintenance  and 
endowment.  In  the  midst  of  these  arduous  labors 
he  always  had  the  salvation  of  men  at  heart,  and  in 
his  visits  to  various  communities,  it  was  no  infre- 
quent thing  for  him  to  tarry  a  few  days  and  engage 
in  revivalistic  labors,  which  invariably  were  produc- 
tive of  good. 

Although  Dr.  Baker's  distinctively  evangelistic 
work  was  confined  to  but  a  short  period  of  his  life, 
his  energies  at  all  times  were  devoted  to  the  conver- 
sion of  men.  Whether  laboring  as  pastor,  revivalist, 
missionary,  college  agent  or  president,  Dr.  Baker 
was  a  soul  winner.  During  his  long  public  life  it  was 
estimated  that  twenty  thousand  persons  were  influ- 
enced through  his  instrumentality  to  embrace  the 
Christian  faith,  including  many  who  afterwards  be- 
came ministers  of  the  gospel  in  various  religious  de- 
nominations. 

Doctrinally  Dr.  Baker  was  an  Old  School  Presby- 
terian and  emphasized  the  distinctive  doctrines  of 
the  Calvinistic  theology,  such  as  the  divine  sover- 
eignty, gracious  election,  total  depravity,  man's  ab- 
solute inability,  vicarious  atonement,  efficacious 
grace,  and  the  final  perseverance  of  the  saints. 

In  his  revivalistic  labors,  Dr.  Baker  was  never  ob- 
trusive, never  sought  to  take  the  pastor's  place,  or 
to  set  him  aside.  He  always  labored  under  the  pas- 
tor's direction  and  with  his  co-operation.     It  was 


CONGREGATIONALISTS.  161 

said  of  him  that  he  endeavored  to  follow  but  not  to 
outrun  the  indications  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  In  his 
efforts  he  made  use  of  the  customary  methods  of  the 
time,  such  as  the  anxious  seat,  inquiry  meetings,  etc., 
and  strongly  insisted  upon  the  prayer  of  faith. 

Of  others  who  labored  in  Congregational  and 
Presbyterian  circles  mention  must  be  made  of  Jede- 
diah  Burchard,  an  eccentric  evangelist,  who  was 
popular  for  some  years  in  New  York  and  New  Eng- 
land, and  Orson  Parker,  a  wise  and  discriminating 
evangelist,  who  did  a  pioneer  work  throughout  the 
newer  States  of  the  Middle  West,  besides  numerous 
evangelistic  pastors,  such  as  Lyman  Beecher,  Albert 
Barnes,  Edward  Payson,  Joel  Parker  and  a  host  of 
others,  who  labored  diligently  to  promote  revivals  in 
their  respective  fields  of  labor. 

As  a  result,  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  revivals  were  numerous,  especially  after  the 
War  of  1812.  In  1 83 1  through  the  influence  of  the 
great  revival  conducted  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  by 
Charles  G.  Finney,  a  revival  swept  over  the  United 
States,  in  which  more  than  fifteen  hundred  towns 
were  blessed  with  showers  of  refreshing  grace  and 
as  many  more  felt  the  impulse  of  the  movement. 
The  great  cities  especially  were  moved,  and  during 
the  first  five  months  of  the  revival  more  than  fifty 
thousand  persons  were  converted.  Before  the  move- 
ment had  spent  its  force  it  was  estimated  that  over 


1 62  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

one  hundred  thousand  members  had  been  added  to 
the  churches. 

During  the  closing  years  of  the  half  century  reviv- 
als were  less  numerous  and  a  period  of  spiritual 
stagnation  followed,  which  continued  until  the  Great 
Revival  of  1857. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

DENOMINATIONAL  MOVEMENTS  :      THE  BAPTISTS. 

Although  the  Baptists  had  shared  somewhat  in 
the  results  of  the  Great  Awakening  and  to  no  incon- 
siderable extent  in  the  Awakening  of  1800,  as  a  class 
they  did  not  favor  special  efforts  to  promote  revivals 
of  religion.  The  cause  is  not  far  to  seek.  With  the 
exception  of  the  Freewill  Baptists,  who  were  Armin- 
ian  in  theology  and  the  ardent  friends  of  revivals,  the 
Baptists  as  a  rule  were  tinctured  with  the  hyper-Cal- 
vinism of  the  period,  which  looked  askance  upon  all 
human  attempts  to  effect  the  regeneration  of  men. 
God's  sovereignty  rendered  inconsistent  any  man- 
made  attempts  for  the  salvation  of  others.  It  was  pre- 
sumptuous to  undertake  anything  of  the  kind.  Re- 
generation was  a  divine  work  to  be  wrought  inde- 
pendently of  any  human  agency.  The  salvation  of 
sinners  being  determined  by  God's  electing  grace, 
human  efforts  looking  to  that  end  were  not  only 
needless  but  useless.  God  knew  who  would  or 
would  not  be  saved,  and  in  his  own  good  time,  and 
in  accordance  with  his  own  good  purposes  he  would 
gather  the  elect  into  his  kingdom.     The  strength  of 


1 64  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

the  church  was  to  "He  still."  As  might  have  been 
expected  where  such  views  gained  wide  acceptance, 
as  they  had  among  many  of  the  Baptists  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  churches 
were  at  a  standstill  and  in  many  instances  were 
dying  out.  Sunday  Schools  were  unknown,  mis- 
sionary activity  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen 
was  scouted,  and  schools  of  theology  were  looked 
upon  as  "minister-making  machines."  Exceptions 
there  were  to  be  sure,  ministers  and  laymen  too  who 
favored  missions  and  revivals,  but  it  was  not  until 
the  first  third  of  the  century  had  passed  that  Bap- 
tists as  a  class  began  to  be  aroused  from  this  state 
of  apathy  and  opposition  to  human  efforts  for  the 
conversion  of  men.  Elders  Jacob  Knapp  and  Jabez 
S.  Swan  were  the  pioneer  evangelists  of  the  denomi- 
nation, and  through  their  earnest  efforts,  greater 
attention  was  given  to  revivals,  and  the  denomina- 
tion entered  upon  a  new  era  in  the  work  of  evangeli- 
zation. 

Elder  Jacob  Knapp  was  born  in  Otsego  County, 
N.  Y.,  December  7th,  1799.  His  parents  were 
Episcopalians,  and  he  was  reared  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  of  that  faith.  Bereaved  of  his  mother 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  was  led  to  thoughtful  con- 
templation as  to  his  spiritual  state.  After  a  period 
of  introspection  followed  by  profound  conviction 
which  threatened  his  health,  he  at  length  found  joy 


THE  BAPTISTS.  165 

and  peace  in  believing.  A  short  time  afterwards  he 
witnessed  the  immersion  of  some  persons  who  had 
been  converted  at  a  Baptist  meeting.  Deeply  im- 
pressed by  the  ceremony,  he  reached  the  conclusion 
that  immersion  was  none  other  than  the  baptism  of 
the  apostles,  but  as  he  was  still  under  age  he  did  not 
feel  at  liberty  to  be  immersed  against  the  wishes  of 
his  father.  Not  being  able,  therefore,  to  live  up  to 
the  light  as  he  believed  it  his  religious  experience 
went  under  a  cloud,  from  which  he  did  not  emerge 
until  his  immersion  two  years  or  more  later. 

From  this  time  his  religious  life  became  more 
stable,  and  on  reaching  his  majority,  he  resolved  to 
prepare  himself  for  the  Baptist  ministry.  Receiv- 
ing small  encouragement,  and  attended  with  difficul- 
ties and  hardships,  which  would  have  discouraged  a 
less  determined  soul,  the  way  was  finally  opened  for 
him  to  attend  the  Hamilton  Literary  and  Theologi- 
cal Institute,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1825. 
During  the  next  eight  years  he  preached  at  Spring- 
field  and  Watertown,  N.  Y.  Numerous  conversions 
attested  the  faithfulness  of  his  ministry,  but  he  was 
not  satisfied,  and  as  the  news  of  successful  protracted 
efforts  reached  his  ears,  he  was  led  to  look  upon  the 
first  eight  years  of  his  ministry  as  comparatively 
wasted.  Duty  seemed  to  be  calling  elsewhere  and  he 
became  convinced  that  he  ought  to  enter  the  evangel- 
istic field. 


1 66  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

This  decision  was  not  reached  without  a  struggle, 
but  finally  yielding  to  the  call  of  duty  he  bade  fare- 
well to  the  pastorate  in  September,  1833,  an^  en- 
tered his  new  field  of  labor.  For  eighteen  months  he 
labored  at  various  places  in  Jefferson  and  Lewis 
Counties.  The  churches  were  revived  and  upwards 
of  two  thousand  persons  were  converted.  At  this 
time  he  did  not  confine  his  efforts  to  any  particular 
denomination,  but  loyalty  to  Baptist  principles  led 
him  thereafter  to  labor  with  Baptist  churches  only, 
although  he  never  discouraged  the  co-operation  oi 
others  in  his  revival  efforts. 

From  1835  to  1839  Elder  Knapp  conducted  suc- 
cessful revivals  in  Ithaca,  New  York  City,  Utica, 
Schenectady,  Brooklyn,  Rochester,  and  various 
other  places  in  the  State  of  New  York.  In  some 
places  he  encountered  great  opposition  because  of  his 
stern  denunciation  of  sin  and  his  invectives  against 
certain  of  the  prevailing  evils  of  the  day,  such  as 
intemperance,  gambling,  and  the  like.  Notwith- 
standing this  opposition  conversions  multiplied  and 
lasting  effects  for  good  were  accomplished. 

On  the  3d  of  October,  1839,  Elder  Knapp  com- 
menced a  series  of  meetings  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  at 
the  Sharp  Street  Church.  The  Baptist  cause  in  Bal- 
timore and  the  State  at  that  time  was  at  rather  a  low 
ebb,  churches  were  weak,  members  were  few,  and 
but  feeble  efforts  were  being  put  forth  to  promote 


THE  BAPTISTS.  167 

the  extension  of  the  Kingdom.  Shortly  after  the 
commencement  of  these  meetings  evidences  of  con- 
verting grace  began  to  appear,  and  for  seven  weeks, 
wave  after  wave  of  salvation  seemed  to  sweep  over 
the  city.  The  Sharp  Street  Church  was  strength- 
ened by  the  addition  of  more  than  four  hundred 
members,  an  indebtedness  of  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars was  liquidated,  while  the  other  churches  and 
denominations  shared  in  the  results  of  this  great 
revival.  The  work  extended  in  various  directions 
and  it  was  estimated  that  fully  ten  thousand  persons 
were  converted.  The  Baptist  cause  throughout  the 
State  was  strengthened  and  the  number  of  communi- 
cants doubled. 

The  Washingtonian  temperance  movement  was  an 
indirect  result  of  this  revival,  concerning  the  origin 
of  which  Elder  Knapp  wrote : 

"During  the  progress  of  the  revival  several  well- 
known  drunkards  had  been  converted.  This  fact 
had  enraged  the  rum-sellers.  On  the  evening  on 
which  I  preached  on  temperance,  two  men,  named 
Mitchel  and  Hawkins,  together  with  other  hard 
drinkers,  were  present.  From  the  church  they  went 
to  the  grog-shop,  whose  proprietor  began  to  indulge 
in  outbursts  of  rage  and  cursing  against  me  and  my 
preaching.  After  a  while  Mitchel  got  up  and  de- 
clared that  he  could  not  hear  Mr.  Knapp  abused  any 
longer ;  that  he  believed  he  was  doing  a  great  deal  of 


1 68  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

good  in  the  city ;  and  turning  towards  the  rum-seller, 
he  remarked,  'If  you  keep  up  this  abuse  any  longer, 
I  will  never  drink  another  drop  in  your  house,  nor 
anywhere  else,  as  long  as  my  name  is  Mitchel.'  But 
the  enraged  proprietor  continued  to  deal  out  his 
anathemas ;  whereupon  Mitchel,  true  to  his  word, 
then  and  there  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  absolute 
and  total  abstinence  thenceforth  through  life. 
Hawkins  and  others  joined  with  him  in  the  pledge. 
This  was  the  origin  of  the  Washingtonian  temper- 
ance movement,  which  swept  over  the  country  with 
such  wonderful  power,  and  by  which  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  drunkards  were  reformed,  and  thousands  of 
families  were  made  happy  for  this  life  and  the  life  to 
come."* 

From  Baltimore  Elder  Knapp  went  to  Albany, 
where  fifteen  hundred  persons,  including  many  of 
the  wealthy  and  influential,  were  converted.  Thence 
he  went  to  the  Tabernacle  Baptist  Church,  New 
York  City.  The  attendance  soon  filled  the  church 
to  overflowing,  and  the  sidewalks  were  often  over- 
run with  people.  As  a  consequence  the  revival  be- 
came a  topic  of  the  day.  A  reporter  of  the  New 
York  Herald  wrote  up  burlesque  accounts  of  the 
meetings,  caricaturing  the  sermons  of  the  revivalist 
and  distorting  his  expressions.  This  served  only  to 
advertise  the  meetings  more  widely,  so  that  scores 

*  Autobiography,  p.  ioo. 


THE  BAPTISTS.  169 

who  otherwise  would  have  manifested  no  interest  in 
the  work,  were  attracted  to  the  services,  and  many 
of  these  were  led  to  embrace  the  gospel.  Thousands 
from  all  classes,  including  the  most  godless  and  pro- 
fane, were  converted  under  the  influence  of  these 
meetings.  There  were  four  hundred  accessions  to 
the  Tabernacle  Church,  while  numbers  swelled  the 
membership  of  churches  of  every  denomination 
throughout  the  city. 

In  December,  1840,  Elder  Knapp  conducted  a 
successful  revival  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  going  thence 
to  New  Haven.  Here  the  Christians  of  the  city, 
irrespective  of  denomination,  co-operated  with  the 
revivalist  in  his  work.  Some  hundreds,  includ- 
ing seventy  students  of  Yale  College,  were  con- 
verted. 

In  December,  1841,  after  having  labored  with  ex- 
cellent results  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  Elder  Knapp 
went  to  Boston  in  response  to  an  invitation  from 
nearly  all  of  the  Baptist  pastors  in  the  city.  The 
revival  spirit  had  been  enkindled  to  some  extent 
through  the  labors  of  Charles  G.  Finney,  so  that  the 
fields  were  already  white  unto  the  harvest,  when 
Elder  Knapp  commenced  his  labors.  As  a  result  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  spiritual  quickenings  in  all 
the  annals  of  American  revivals  visited  Boston  and 
vicinity.  As  in  other  places,  on  account  of  his 
scathing  animadversions  of  Unitarianism,   Univer- 


170  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

salism,  gambling  and  intemperance,  a  great  deal  of 
opposition  was  encountered,  and  on  several  occa- 
sions the  preacher  narrowly  escaped  being  mobbed. 
But  the  opposition  was  overruled  and  the  revival 
went  on  to  the  conversion  of  multitudes. 

Of  the  influence  of  the  revival  Elder  Knapp  said : 
"Several  of  the  places  of  amusement  were  closed; 
billiard  tables  and  bar-rooms  were  neglected;  and 
you  could  scarcely  meet  a  man  in  the  market  or  on 
the  street  whose  countenance  did  not  indicate 
seriousness,  and  whose  language  was  not  subdued. 
The  streets  at  midnight  were  deserted,  and  the  still- 
ness of  the  hour  was  disturbed  only  by  the  voice  of 
prayer  or  the  song  of  praise,  as  they  were  wafted 
from  counting-house,  garret,  or  parlor."* 

As  a  result  of  the  Great  Boston  Revival,  as  it  was 
called  at  the  time,  upwards  of  four  thousand  persons 
were  added  to  the  churches,  the  Baptist  churches  of 
the  city  and  vicinity  being  strengthened  by  about  two ' 
thousand  accessions.  Elder  Knapp  was  not  alone  in 
conducting  the  services  of  this  mighty  spiritual 
quickening.  He  had  been  preceded  by  Charles  G. 
Finney  and  was  followed  by  Edward  N.  Kirk,  who 
labored  among  the  Orthodox  Congregationalists, 
while  John  N.  Maffit,  the  eloquent  Methodist  divine, 
labored  for  a  time  in  the  principal  Methodist  Church 
of  the  city.     The  labors  of  all  of  these  men  were 

*  Autobiography,  p.    129. 


THE  BAPTISTS.  171 

highly  successful,  and  all  things  seemed  to  combine 
to  make  this  revival  the  most  remarkable,  perhaps, 
which  had  ever  visited  Boston. 

After  the  Boston  revival,  Elder  Knapp  conducted 
successful  meetings  in  Lowell,  Concord,  Marblehead, 
and  Salem,  Mass.,  but  about  this  time  his  ministry  as 
a  great  revivalist  culminated.  He  had  already  en- 
countered the  opposition  of  "lewd  fellows  of  the 
baser  sort/'  but  now  he  was  obliged  to  suffer  from 
"perils  among  false  brethren."  A  man  of  marked 
views  and  of  unswerving  fidelity  to  what  he  be- 
lieved to  be  the  truth,  it  was  not  strange  perhaps  that 
he  should  have  awakened  antagonism  on  the  part  of 
certain  of  his  contemporaries. 

It  was  charged  in  the  first  place  that  his  work  was 
lacking  in  permanency.  It  was  true  that  a  reaction 
followed  the  revival  in  Boston,  but  it  was  neither  so 
disastrous  as  to  be  unusual,  nor  could  it  in  any  sense 
be  attributed  to  the  indiscretions  of  Elder  Knapp. 
The  overwhelming  majority  of  those  who  had  pro- 
fessed conversion  remained  true  to  their  vows. 
Deacon  Asa  Wilbur  of  Boston  made  an  exhaustive 
study  of  the  facts,  and  proved  that  the  five  Baptist 
churches  in  Boston  under  whose  auspices  the  revi- 
valist had  labored,  in  the  four  succeeding  years  bap- 
tized 1,058  persons,  and  excluded  during  the  same 
period  158,  thus  making  a  net  gain  of  51  per  cent., 
while  the  percentage  of  those  excluded  was  but  15 


172  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

per  cent,  of  the  baptisms.  The  two  remaining 
Baptist  churches  in  the  city  which  did  not  co-operate 
in  the  revival  received  during  the  same  period  122 
by  baptism  and  excluded  36,  the  percentage  of  those 
excluded  to  those  received  being  29  per  cent.  The 
exclusions  in  all  of  these  churches  during  these  years 
being  but  one  and  one-fourth  per  cent,  annually  of 
their  entire  membership,  disproved  completely  the 
complaint  of  "spurious  converts,"  "numerous  ex- 
clusions," etc. 

Dr.  Edward  N.  Kirk  in  speaking  of  the  thorough- 
ness of  Elder  Knapp's  ministry  said:  "Complaints 
were  heard  of  the  superficialness  of  the  conversions 
under  his  ministry.  But  following  him  as  I  did,  in 
1839  and  1840,  in  Baltimore,  New  Haven,  and 
Hartford,  I  am  able  to  testify  that  in  all  those 
places  men's  religious  sensibilities  had  been  deeply 
moved.  I  found  the  ground  ploughed  for  the  seed, 
and  the  harvest  ripe  for  the  sickle."* 

The  second  charge  was  that  of  avarice.  It  was 
alleged  that  he  dressed  and  appeared  so  as  to  give  the 
impression  that  he  was  very  poor  in  order  to  in- 
crease the  contributions  of  the  benevolent  minded 
towards  his  support.  At  Elder  Knapp's  own 
request  the  charge  was  investigated  by  his  ministe- 
rial brethren,  and  their  verdict  was  that  there  "was 
nothing  in  the  case  which  ought  to  interrupt  Elder 

*  Lectures,  p.  142. 


THE  BAPTISTS.  173 

Knapp's  connection  with  the  church,  or  his  labors  as 
a  minister  of  the  gospel." 

Groundless  as  these  charges  were,  they  interfered 
no  doubt  with  his  usefulness  for  a  time,  but  he  did 
not  suffer  himself  to  be  set  aside  thereby.  Up  to  the 
time  of  his  death  at  Rockford,  111.,  in  1874,  he  con- 
tinued to  do  the  work  of  an  evangelist,  especially 
among  the  weaker  churches  of  the  West,  laboring 
through  evil  as  well  as  good  report  for  the  salvation 
of  men.  If  other  evidence  were  wanting,  his  long 
and  faithful  subsequent  career  as  an  evangelist 
furnished  a  sufficient  refutation  of  the  charges 
which  had  been  named  against  him. 

In  its  doctrinal  aspects,  Elder  Knapp's  preaching 
was  a  sort  of  an  Arminianized  Calvinism.  While 
he  recognized  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  the  conver- 
sion of  men,  he  exhorted  sinners  to  immediate  re- 
pentance and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  In  dealing  with 
inquirers  he  made  use  of  the  anxious  seat,  since  it 
served  not  only  as  a  test  of  character,  but  also 
enabled  the  individual  to  publicly  commit  himself  to 
the  service  of  Christ,  and  was  a  source  of  encourage- 
ment to  others  who  might  be  seeking  salvation. 

Of  the  general  results  of  his  labors,  Elder  Knapp 
said :  "For  a  time  I  endeavored  to  keep  an  approxi- 
mate account  of  the  persons  who  professed  conver- 
sion in  my  meetings,  but  after  my  reckonings  took  in 
more  than  one  hundred  thousand  cases  I  gave  up 


174  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

the  attempt.  They  came  in  such  crowds,  from  all 
denominations ;  so  many  united  with  other  churches, 
and  so  many  were  reported  in  meetings  commenced 
by  me  after  I  had  left,  and  so  many  were  strangers 
from  distant  towns  and  States,  sojourning  for  a  few 
days  or  weeks  where  I  was  preaching,  and  so  many 
other  meetings  sprang  up  from  those  I  was  holding, 
that  I  found  the  attempt  to  number  Israel  an  impos- 
sibility, and  suspected  that  it  might  be  sin."* 

Elder  Jabez  S.  Swan  with  Elder  Knapp  shared 
the  distinction  of  being  a  pioneer  evangelist  among 
the  Baptists.  He  was  born  in  Stonington,  Conn., 
February  23,  1800.  In  his  youth  he  was  subject  to 
serious  impressions,  but  it  was  not  until  he  reached 
his  majority  that  he  became  a  Christian.  After  his 
marriage  he  felt  called  of  God  to  enter  the  ministry. 
Accompanied  by  his  wife  he  went  to  Hamilton, 
N.  Y.,  to  pursue  a  course  of  study  in  the  Literary 
and  Theological  Institute,  from  which  he  graduated 
in  1827. 

After  a  three  years'  pastorate  at  Stonington, 
Conn.,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  church  at  Norwich, 
N.  Y.  About  two  years  after  his  settlement  he  at- 
tended a  four  days'  meeting  some  miles  distant, 
where  there  was  a  remarkable  revival,  in  which  a 
hundred  or  more  persons  were  converted.  Im- 
pressed doubtless  with  a  sense  of  his  fruitlessness  in 

*  Autobiography,  p.  190. 


THE  BAPTISTS.  175 

ministerial  labors,  on  his  return  to  Norwich  he  con- 
fessed to  his  congregation  his  want  of  earnestness 
and  faithfulness  in  the  work  to  which  he  had  been 
called.  He  begged  the  church  and  the  unconverted 
to  forgive  him.  A  profound  impression  was  thus 
made.  The  church  was  aroused  and  the  uncon- 
verted were  deeply  moved.  A  revival  followed,  in 
which  numbers  were  converted.  From  this  time 
Elder  Swan  was  abundant  in  revival  labors,  preach- 
ing at  various  places  in  the  vicinity  with  excellent 
results.  Hardened  sinners  were  converted  and  the 
waste  places  were  built  up.  In  one  of  the  meetings 
not  far  from  Norwich  a  whiskey  distiller  was  con- 
verted, and  he  advised  with  Elder  Swan  as  to  what 
he  should  do.  He  was  promptly  told  to  "sign  the 
pledge  and  put  out  the  fires."  He  did  so  and  was 
baptized,  twenty-one  others  being  baptized  with  him. 
Swan  remained  at  Norwich  eight  years,  during 
which  more  than  three  hundred  united  with  his 
church,  mostly  by  baptism.  In  his  revival  labors, 
moreover,  he  had  ranged  north  as  far  as  Utica, 
south  as  far  as  Binghamton,  and  west  to  Oswego. 
After  the  close  of  his  pastorate  at  Norwich,  Elder 
Swan  served  brief  pastorates  in  Preston,  and 
Oxford,  N.  Y. 

In  order  that  he  might  do  the  work  of  an  evan- 
gelist, Elder  Swan  resigned  the  pastorate  in  the  fall 
of  1 84 1  and  for  the  next  two  or  three  years  devoted 


176  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

his  whole  time  to  the  work  of  conducting  revivals. 
He  visited  Owego,  New  York  City,  Auburn,  and 
Wellsport,  N.  Y.,  Stonington,  Mystic,  and  New 
London,  Conn.,  and  Albany,  N.  Y.  In  all  of  these 
places  he  was  very  successful  and  conversions  were 
numerous. 

While  he  was  laboring  at  Albany  the  Millerite 
excitement  was  at  its  height.  Besides  this  he  met 
with  much  opposition  from  the  Universalists.  Not- 
withstanding these  hindrances  a  great  revival  com- 
menced which  went  on  until  fourteen  other  pro- 
tracted meetings  were  in  progress  at  the  same  time, 
as  a  result  of  which  upwards  of  three  thousand  per- 
sons were  converted. 

At  the  close  of  his  labors  at  Albany  Elder  Swan 
returned  to  the  pastorate,  in  which  he  continued  at 
various  places  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  years  as  a  home  missionary 
evangelist  in  Connecticut.  In  his  ministerial  labors 
as  pastor  and  evangelist,  he  baptized  ten  thousand 
persons  with  his  own  hands,  besides  great  numbers 
who  were  baptized  by  other  ministers  or  who  affil- 
iated themselves  with  other  religious  denominations. 

Emerson  Andrews,  an  evangelist  of  considerable 
prominence  among  the  Baptists,  was  born  in  Mans- 
field, Mass.,  November  24,  1806.  While  a  student 
at  an  academy  in  Plainfield,  N.  H.,  he  was  converted 
through  the  preaching  of  Asahel  Nettleton.     At  a 


THE  BAPTISTS.  177 

later  time,  while  a  student  at  Union  College,  Sche- 
nectady, N.  Y.,  he  united  with  the  Baptist  Church. 
He  was  brought  up  in  the  Congregational  Church, 
but  becoming  convinced  that  immersion  was  the 
form  of  baptism  practised  by  the  early  followers  of 
Jesus,  he  went  into  the  Baptist  denomination. 

In  1835  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  church  at  Lan- 
singburg,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  ordained  as  an 
evangelist.  Not  long  after  he  was  called  to  Rome, 
N.  Y.  During  a  stay  of  two  years  the  membership 
of  the  church  was  doubled  and  he  was  persuaded  to 
relinquish  the  duties  of  the  pastorate  to  enter  the 
evangelistic  field.  For  a  period  of  more  than  thirty- 
five  years  with  the  exception  of  a  brief  pastorate  at 
Reading,  Pa.,  he  did  the  work  of  an  evangelist,  con- 
ducting more  than  three  hundred  protracted  meet- 
ings, in  which  forty  thousand  persons  professed  con- 
version. 

The  labors  of  these  evangelists  and  others,  such 
as  A.  C.  Kingsley,  Lewis  Raymond,  etc.,  who  had 
entered  the  fields  already  whitened  to  the  harvest, 
together  with  the  efforts  of  scores  of  faithful  pas- 
tors, had  by  the  close  of  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  brought  about  a  wholesome  revolu- 
tion throughout  the  Baptist  denomination,  so  that 
revivals  were  coming  to  be  quite  as  common  among 
the  Baptists  as  in  other  evangelical  denominations. 
Not  only  was  there  a  quickening  along  evangelistic 


178  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

lines,  but  the  Baptists  had  entered  upon  an  era  of 
expansion  in  missions,  in  benevolences,  in  education 
and  in  the  religious  training  of  the  young.  As  a 
result  of  which  the  denomination  had  come  to  exer- 
cise a  profound  influence  upon  the  religious  life  of 
our  country  and  the  world. 

Associated  in  their  early  history  with  the  Bap- 
tists were  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  or  Campbellite 
Baptists,  as  they  were  sometimes  called.  The  body 
owes  its  origin  to  the  labors  of  Thomas  Campbell 
and  especially  to  his  son,  Alexander  Campbell,  both 
of  whom  had  been  connected  with  the  Irish 
"Seceder"  Presbyterian  Church,  and  who  emigrated 
to  this  country  in  1807  and  1809,  respectively.  They 
formed  what  they  termed  a  "Christian  Association" 
in  Washington  County,  Pa.  For  this  organization 
they  disclaimed  the  character  of  a  church,  but 
sought  admission  for  it  into  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg, 
which  was  denied.  Being  deprived  of  ecclesiastical 
standing,  the  "Association"  was  eventually  trans- 
formed into  a  church  which  was  founded  upon  the 
fundamental  propositions  of  the  Campbells,  in 
which  they  advocated  the  union  of  all  Christians  on 
the  basis  of  the  overthrowal  of  human  creeds  and 
confessions  of  faith,  and  the  refusal  to  adopt  any 
doctrine  or  observance  which  was  not  expressly  en- 
joined in  the  New  Testament.  Prior  to  this  they 
had    affirmed    "Where    the    Scriptures    speak,    we 


THE  BAPTISTS.  179 

speak;  where  the  Scriptures  are  silent,  we  are 
silent,"  a  principle  which  led  to  the  rejection  of 
infant  baptism,  and  the  acceptance  a  little  later  of 
immersion  as  the  only  form  of  baptism  recognized 
by  the  primitive  Christian  church.  The  Campbells 
were  accordingly  immersed,  and  the  members  of 
their  church  soon  after  followed  their  example. 
Having  practically  become  Baptists,  they  were  in- 
vited to  unite  with  the  Redstone  Baptist  Association, 
which  they  did  and  continued  fellowship  therewith 
until  the  controversies  over  their  distinguishing 
views  became  so  heated  that  they  withdrew.  They 
then  united  with  the  Mahoning  Baptist  Association, 
but  this  Association  adjourned  sine  die  in  1827, 
leaving  the  Campbells  and  their  churches  without 
ecclesiastical  affiliations.  Accordingly  their  work 
about  this  time  assumed  the  form  of  an  independent 
religious  body.  Others  entertaining  similar  views 
rallied  about  their  standard,  and  the  churches  of 
their  order  entered  upon  a  career  of  prosperity  which 
has  been  uninterrupted  from  that  day  to  this. 

During  the  early  period  of  their  history  the  Disci- 
ples were  inclined  to  be  belligerent  towards  other 
sects.  With  their  platform  of  Christian  union  on 
the  basis  of  the  overthrowal  of  human  creeds,  they 
regarded  other  religious  denominations  as  the  legiti- 
mate fields  of  their  endeavor,  and  by  a  system  of 
proselytism    they    multiplied    with    great    rapidity 


180  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

through  the  Middle- West  and  South- West.  Not- 
withstanding their  belligerent  attitude  towards 
other  denominations,  and  the  number  of  proselytes 
therefrom  that  they  succeeded  in  making,  the  Disci- 
ples did  a  great  work  in  the  evangelization  of  the 
unchurched  and  unconverted  throughout  the  regions 
in  which  they  labored,  so  that  by  the  close  of  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century  they  had  come  to  be 
recognized  as  one  of  the  important  factors  in  the 
religious  life  of  our  country. 


CHAPTER  X. 

DENOMINATIONAL  MOVEMENTS!      THE  METHODISTS. 

In  many  respects  the  Methodists  have  contributed 
more  to  the  revival  history  of  our  country  than  any 
other  religious  denomination.  Although  there  were 
as  yet  no  professional  evangelists  among  them,  they 
were  emphatically  evangelistic  in  their  spirit  and 
aims.  Every  Methodist  minister  was  a  flaming 
evangel  to  bear  the  gospel  message,  and  the  system 
under  which  he  labored  afforded  the  widest  opportu- 
nity for  the  development  of  evangelistic  gifts.  The 
circuit  to  which  he  received  appointment  was  large 
enough  to  occupy  his  entire  time  and  strength, 
otherwise  he  might  be  called  upon  to  assist  brother 
ministers  in  the  promotion  of  revivals. 

The  early  Methodists  devoted  their  attention 
chiefly  to  the  neglected  classes,  and  to  those  sections 
of  country  which  were  destitute  of  religious  privi- 
leges. They  followed  in  the  wake  of  pioneer  settlers 
to  the  frontier  regions  and  to  the  very  outskirts  of 
civilization.     Wherever  men  and  women  were  to  be 


182  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

found  who  needed  the  gospel,  thither  these  earnest 
preachers  went  to  inaugurate  the  work  of  evangeli- 
zation. 

The  conditions  of  pioneer  life  were  uninviting. 
Log  cabins  or  huts,  warmed  by  fire-places  and  illy 
furnished  with  the  conveniences  of  life,  constituted 
the  homes  of  the  people.  Deerskin  and  coarse  home- 
spun cloth  furnished  the  principal  materials  for 
wearing  apparel,  while  the  food  was  of  the  most 
simple  variety  and  prepared  in  the  most  primitive 
manner.  The  hardships  of  such  life  were  cheerfully 
entered  into  by  these  pioneers  of  the  gospel.  The 
only  roads  were  bridle-paths,  and  often  the  only 
guides  for  the  venturesome  traveler  were  trees 
"blazed"  with  a  hatchet  blow  to  prevent  him  from 
being  lost  amid  the  interminable  mazes  of  the  forest. 
The  bridgeless  streams  could  only  be  crossed  by 
fording.  With  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  which 
rivalled  that  of  the  apostolic  age,  the  early  advocates 
of  Methodism  resolutely  set  their  faces  to  the  task 
and  plunged  into  the  wilderness  to  carry  the  gospel 
light  to  these  distant  and  scattered  settlements. 

Not  only  were  these  pioneer  evangelists  con- 
fronted with  the  hardships  of  frontier  life,  but  they 
were  brought  face  to  face  with  a  religious  destitu- 
tion, which  has  since  known  no  parallel  in  American 
history.  As  widespread  in  its  influence  as  was  the 
Awakening  of  1800,  many  of  the  remote  settlements 


THE    METHODISTS.  183 

were  entirely  destitute  of  the  stated  services  of 
religion.  Exceptions  there  were  to  be  sure,  in  those 
communities  which  had  been  settled  by  colonies 
from  New  England  or  the  Middle  States,  where  the 
colonists  had  brought  with  them  the  customary  and 
time-honored  institutions  of  religion.  These  excep- 
tions, however,  but  emphasized  the  needs  and  made 
apparent  the  moral  destitution,  which  prevailed  over 
wide  areas  of  territory  within  the  interior  of  a  grow- 
ing empire.  A  glimpse  only  at  these  conditions  is  all 
that  we  can  attempt. 

Rev.  Jacob  Young  who  went  to  Illinois  in  1804 
said,  "The  bulk  of  the  people  are  given  up  to  wick- 
edness of  every  kind.  Of  all  places  this  is  the  worst 
for  stealing,  fighting  and  lying." 

Detroit,  Mich.,  was  spoken  of  in  1804  as  a  most 
"abandoned  place."  That  same  year  Rev.  Nathan 
Bangs,  who  afterwards  rose  to  prominence  in  the 
M.  E.  Church,  preached  there.  A  Congregational 
missionary,  who  had  preached  in  the  city  until  only 
a  few  children  came  to  hear  him,  bade  him  God- 
speed and  wished  him  success  saying,  "If  you  can 
succeed,  which  I  very  much  doubt,  I  shall  rejoice." 
But  he  did  not  succeed,  nor  was  any  Protestant 
church  organized  in  the  territory  of  Michigan  until 
18 10,  when  a  Methodist  Church  was  organized  at 
Monroe,  but  it  had  a  short  existence,  and  no  perma- 
nent organization  was  effected  until  18:5. 


1 84  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

Rev.  E.  B.  Bowman,  who  went  to  New  Orleans 
in  1805,  said  of  Baton  Rouge  and  the  country  along 
the  way:  "When  I  reached  the  city  I  was  much 
disappointed  in  finding  but  a  few  American  people 
there,  and  a  majority  of  that  few  may  be  truly  called 
beasts  of  men. — The  Lord's  day  is  the  day  of  gen- 
eral rant  in  this  city.  Public  balls  are  held,  traffic 
of  every  kind  is  carried  on,  public  sales,  wagons  run- 
ning, and  drums  beating;  and  thus  is  the  Sabbath 
spent. — I  reached  the  Opelousas  country,  and  the 
next  day  I  reached  the  Catholic  Church.  I  was  sur- 
prised to  see  race-paths  at  the  church  door.  Here  I 
found  a  few  Americans,  who  were  swearing  with 
almost  every  breath ;  and  when  I  reproved  them  they 
told  me  that  the  priest  swore  as  hard  as  they  did. 
They  said  he  would  play  cards  and  dance  with  them 
every  Sunday  evening  after  mass ;  and  strange  to 
tell,  he  keeps  a  race-horse  and  practices  every  abomi- 
nation."* 

In  1813  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Mills,  the  father  of 
American  missions,  spent  Sunday  in  a  Kentucky 
town  having  a  population  of  two  or  three  thousand 
without  being  able  to  gather  a  congregation  to  listen 
to  a  sermon  from  the  Word  of  God. 

In  1820  Rev.  Jesse  Walker  visited  St.  Louis  in 
the  interests  of  Methodism,  and  with  two  compan- 
ions was  unable  to  find  lodgings.     Some  laughed  at 


*  Dorchester's  Christianity  in  the  U.  S.,  p.  381. 


THE  METHODISTS.  185 

them,  while  others  cursed  them.  Leaving  the  city 
in  despair  and  having  bidden  adieu  to  his  compan- 
ions, he  thus  soliloquized :  "Was  I  ever  defeated 
before  in  this  blessed  work?  Never.  Did  any  one 
ever  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus  and  get  confounded? 
No;  and  by  the  grace  of  God  I  will  go  back  and 
take  St.  Louis."  He  went  back,  but  it  proved  no 
easy  task  to  "take"  the  city.  There  were  but  a 
handful  of  Protestant  Christians,  mostly  Baptists,  in 
the  city.  The  inhabitants  were  wicked  and  dis- 
sipated, and  it  was  a  well-nigh  hopeless  problem  to 
reach  them. 

As  late  as  1830,  of  some  portions  of  the  West  it 
was  said  that  a  person  "might  travel  hundreds  of 
miles  and  in  vain  look  for  a  temple  dedicated  to 
Jehovah,  or  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  to  break  the 
bread  of  life  to  its  perishing  inhabitants.  The  con- 
sequence is  that  many  of  them,  in  regard  to  religious 
information,  are  approaching  a  state  but  little  better 
than  heathenism."  The  Middle  West  and  South 
especially  were  in  a  destitute  condition.  A  Baptist 
minister  in  Ohio  wrote,  "We  visit  whole  neighbor- 
hoods sometimes  where  there  has  not  been  a  sermon 
preached  for  ten  or  fifteen  years." 

Truly  the  Methodist  Church  "had  come  to  the 
kingdom  for  such  a  time  as  this."  "The  Metho- 
dists," says  Bancroft,  "came  in  an  age  of  tranquillity 
when  the  feeling  for  that  which  is  higher  than  man 


1 86  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

had  grown  dull;  and  they  claimed  it  as  their  mis- 
sion to  awaken  conscience,  to  revive  religion,  to  sub- 
stitute glowing  affections  for  the  calm  of  indiffer- 
ence. They  stood  in  the  mountain  forests  of  the 
Alleghenies  and  in  the  plains  beyond  them,  ready  to 
kindle  in  the  emigrants,  who  might  come  without 
hymn  book  or  Bible,  their  own  vivid  sense  of 
religion."* 

The  genius  of  the  denomination  was  remarkably 
well  adapted  to  the  conditions  then  prevailing.  By 
means  of  its  itinerant  system  several  communities 
could  enjoy  the  ministrations  of  a  single  preacher. 
Beyond  all  question,  the  circuit  system  was  the 
strength  of  early  Methodism.  From  his  conference 
the  preacher  would  receive  an  appointment  to  a  cir- 
cuit with  perhaps  no  meeting  house  nor  any  of  the 
adjuncts  of  worship.  The  circuit  was  composed  of 
classes  and  preaching  appointments.  These  classes 
met  from  time  to  time  under  the  leadership  of  a  lay- 
man, and  together  with  the  stated  visits  of  the  cir- 
cuit-rider, as  the  preacher  was  called,  often  consti- 
tuted the  only  religious  privileges  of  the  community. 
At  some  of  his  preaching  appointments  the  preacher 
possibly  would  find  no  professors  of  religion,  but 
this  would  be  considered  no  insuperable  obstacle. 
Under  the  influence  of  his  plain  and  pungent  preach- 
ing he  would  expect  soon  to  have  an  "interest"  and 

*  Bancroft's  History  of  the  Constitution,  p.  164. 


THE  METHODISTS.  187 

realize  the  fruitage  of  his  labors  in  the  conversions 
which  were  almost  sure  to  follow.  The  converts 
were  enrolled  in  classes  and  the  most  capable  per- 
sons were  selected  as  class-leaders,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  conduct  class  meetings  at  stated  times  and  to 
exercise  the  oversight  of  the  infant  organization 
during  the  absence  of  the  "preacher-in-charge." 

On  almost  every  circuit  were  to  be  found  "ex- 
horters,"  who  were  authorized  to  exercise  their  gifts 
in  public  speaking,  and  ''local  preachers,"  the  latter 
of  whom  either  were  so  licensed  on  account  of  their 
gifts  or  else  they  had  formerly  been  circuit-riders, 
who  had  retired  from  the  active  service.  Early  in 
the  nineteenth  century  a  circuit-rider's  salary  was 
limited  to  eighty  dollars  per  year,  but  the  great 
majority  of  preachers  were  seldom  able  to  collect 
their  full  allowance  and  many  considered  them- 
selves fortunate  if  they  received  one-half  of  the  stip- 
ulated amount.  Thus  it  came  about  that  the  early 
preachers  of  Methodism  were  chiefly  young  and 
unmarried  men.  Few  of  them  cared  to  devote  them- 
selves to  a  life  of  celibacy.  When,  therefore,  they 
took  unto  themselves  helpmates  and  children  be- 
gan to  multiply,  the  itineracy  was  too  unremuner- 
ative  to  furnish  adequate  support,  in  consequence 
of  which  many  retired  from  the  active  service 
and  became  "local  preachers,"  among  whom  were 
some    of    the    most    able    men    in    the    denomina- 


1 88  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

tion.  They  did  not  consider  themselves  relieved 
thereby  from  the  duty  of  preaching,  but  held  them- 
selves in  readiness  to  respond  to  the  call  of  the 
church,  without  compensation,  for  the  discharge  of 
such  duties  as  they,  in  conjunction  with  their  custom- 
ary occupations,  were  able  to  perform.  Thus 
within  the  bounds  of  almost  every  circuit  was  to  be 
found  a  supply  of  lay-workers,  upon  whom  the 
"preacher-in-charge"  could  depend  for  assistance  in 
protracted  efforts  or  to  fill  his  appointments  when 
the  interest  constrained  him  to  concentrate  his  ener- 
gies for  a  time  in  a  particular  locality.  The  assistance 
thus  rendered  was  often  of  the  most  efficient  char- 
acter. 

The  circuits  of  the  early  preachers  were  often 
large,  sometimes  extending  over  hundreds  of  miles 
of  territory  and  requiring  from  four  to  six  weeks  of 
almost  incessant  traveling,  generally  on  horseback, 
to  make  the  rounds  of  the  circuit  and  to  preach  at 
the  various  appointments.  The  following  descrip- 
tion of  one  of  these  early  circuits  traveled  by  Rev. 
Alfred  Brunson,  in  1822- 1823,  will  afford  a  fair 
idea  of  the  arduous  tasks  imposed  upon  the  early 
itinerants : 

"It  extended  to  all  the  white  settlements  of  the 
territory  (Michigan),  except  the  one  at  St.  Mary's, 
the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  which  was  perhaps 
hardly  white.    From  Detroit  we  went  north  to  Pon- 


THE   METHODISTS.  189 

tiac,  then  but  a  small  village.  From  thence  we  went 
down  the  upper  Huron,  now  the  Clinton  River,  to 
Mount  Clemens,  and  thence  down  Lake  St.  Clair 
and  river  to  Detroit,  and  thence  again  to  the  river 
Rouse,  and  up  that  stream  some  seven  miles  to  the 
upper  settlement,  thence  back  to  the  river  and  lake 
road,  and  on  to  the  Maumee  at  the  foot  of  the 
rapids,  and  thence  right  back  on  the  lake  road  fifty- 
eight  miles  to  Detroit.  It  required  four  weeks  to  get 
round,  though  we  had  but  twelve  appointments."* 
As  early  as  1792  these  circuits  had  been  grouped 
together  into  districts,  which  were  placed  under  the 
supervision  of  presiding  elders.  The  presiding 
eldership  is  a  function  peculiar  to  Methodism  and 
was  practically  indispensable  to  the  early  growth  of 
the  church.  When  it  is  remembered  that  large  num- 
bers of  the  early  preachers  of  Methodism  were 
young  and  inexperienced  men  without  the  advan- 
tages of  a  theological  education,  numbers  of  whom 
were  unordained  and  too  often  with  a  zeal  "not 
according  to  knowledge,"  we  can  see  how  essential 
it  was  to  the  success  of  the  denomination,  that  they 
should  be  placed  under  the  supervision  of  judicious 
and  experienced  men,  who  could  temper  their  zeal, 
correct  their  mistakes  and  help  them  in  the  develop- 
ment of  those  capacities  which  would  be  of  the 
largest  usefulness  in  the  evangelization  of  the  com- 

*  Dorchester's  Christianity  in  the  U.  S.,  p.  389. 


i9o  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

munities  to  which  they  had  been  sent.  Moreover 
had  it  not  been  for  the  presiding  eldership, 
many  of  the  infant  churches  of  Methodism  would 
have  been  destitute  of  the  sacraments  and  ordinances 
of  religion.  The  presiding  elders  were  expected  to 
visit  the  circuits  under  their  charge  quarterly,  for 
the  purpose  of  administering  the  Lord's  supper  and 
exercising  ecclesiastical  supervision  over  the  same. 
If  the  preacher-in-charge  was  an  unordained  man, 
as  was  not  infrequently  the  case,  the  presiding  elder 
was  expected  to  baptize  any  recent  converts  who  had 
been  made  and  receive  them  into  the  church.  The 
services  conducted  on  these  visits  were  called 
"Quarterly  Meetings"  and  not  infrequently  became 
the  occasion  for  evangelistic  effort  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  presiding  elder. 

At  the  head  of  the  entire  itinerant  system  were 
the  bishops  or  superintendents,  as  they  were  at  first 
called.  Of  these  there  were  originally  two,  Francis 
Asbury  and  Thomas  Coke,  D.C.L.,  who  were  ap- 
pointed to  this  office  by  John  Wesley.  Bishop  Coke 
did  not  remain  permanently  in  this  country,  and 
although  others  were  subsequently  elected  to  the 
episcopate,  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  Asbury  was 
not  only  the  leading  spirit  of  his  denomination,  but 
the  entire  oversight  of  the  church  was  practically  in 
his  hands.  He  was  the  typical  evangelist  of  early 
Methodism  in  America.    For  more  than  forty  years, 


THE   METHODISTS.  191 

both  before  and  including  his  bishopric,  he  made 
lengthy  itinerations  throughout  the  country.  The 
whole  region  then  embraced  within  the  United 
States  comprised  his  parish.  From  Maine  to 
Georgia  on  the  seacoast,  and  across  the  Alleghanies 
into  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  even  to  In- 
diana he  traveled  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  in- 
volving an  aggregate  of  over  six  thousand  miles  on 
horseback  every  year.  He  presided  over  confer- 
ences, annual  and  general,  ordained  ministers,  and 
with  the  aid  of  presiding  elders,  appointed  them  to 
their  circuits.  Like  a  skillful  general  he  marshalled 
his  hosts  to  victory.  Much  of  the  success  of  Metho- 
dism in  this  country  is  attributable  to  his  conspicu- 
ous abilities  as  an  administrator  and  leader  of  men. 
In  addition  to  administrative  abilities  he  was  a 
preacher  and  evangelist  of  unusual  power.  To  the 
multitudes  in  the  shady  groves  of  pioneer  settle- 
ments he  proclaimed  the  "unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ,"  and  to  crowded  auditories  in  the  cities  he 
"shunned  not  to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God." 
All  classes  alike  were  moved  by  his  preaching  and 
it  was  said  of  him  that  perhaps  no  other  man  in  the 
country  ever  received  so  many  into  the  church  on 
confession  of  faith  as  he.  During  the  later  years  of 
his  life  his  enfeebled  condition  compelled  him  to 
travel  by  carriage,  but  he  still  continued  to  preach 
daily.     When  unable  to  stand,  his  attendants  would 


192  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

carry  him  in  their  arms  from  his  carriage  to  the 
waiting  assembly  and  he  would  preach  in  a  sitting 
posture.  March  24,  1816,  he  preached  his  last  ser- 
mon at  Richmond,  Va.,  while  on  his  way  to  Balti- 
more to  attend  the  general  conference,  which  he 
hoped  once  more  to  meet,  but  his  desire  was  never 
realized.  He  journeyed  on  to  Spottsylvania,  where, 
literally  worn  out  with  his  long  and  arduous  labors, 
he  passed  away,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one,  on 
March  31. 

It  was  this  distinctly  articulated  system  of  church 
government,  with  its  sharply  defined  functions  from 
class  leader  to  bishop,  that  enabled  the  apostles  and 
evangelists  of  Methodism  to  push  their  conquests 
and  gather  their  harvests  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 
permanent  and  lasting  the  results  of  their  work.  Of 
course  it  was  not  the  system  alone  that  produced 
these  tremendous  results.  The  system  alone  would 
have  been  a  vain  thing.  But  it  was  the  system  com- 
bined with  a  religious  fervor  and  an  evangelistic 
zeal,  such  as  no  age  since  the  apostolic  has  wit- 
nessed, that  made  possible  the  marvellous  triumphs, 
the  rapid  growth  and  the  wonderful  progress  of  the 
Methodist  Church. 

During  this  early  period  camp-meetings  were  of 
frequent  occurrence.  1799  is  the  commonly  ac- 
cepted date  for  the  origin  of  camp-meetings.  This 
camp-meeting,  held  on  the  bank  of  the  Red  River, 


THE   METHODISTS.  193 

Ky.,  was  under  the  joint  auspices  of  the  Methodists 
and  Presbyterians.  Two  brothers,  Rev.  John 
Magee  and  Rev.  William  Magee,  the  former  a 
Methodist  and  the  latter  a  Presbyterian,  and  Rev. 
Mr.  Hodges,  also  a  Presbyterian,  united  in  a  sacra- 
mental meeting.  So  large  was  the  attendance  and 
so  great  was  the  interest  that  the  assembly  adjourned 
to  a  grove  near  by,  where  a  rude  pulpit  and  stand 
were  erected  from  which  the  ministers  preached 
alternately. 

While  this  doubtless  was  the  origin  of  camp- 
meetings  west  of  the  mountains,  there  is  evidence  of 
similar  meetings  in  North  Carolina  at  an  earlier 
period.  In  1791  and  1794  there  were  camp-meet- 
ings in  Lincoln  County,  N.  C,  attended  both  by 
Presbyterians  and  Methodists.  In  1795  a  union  meet- 
ing was  conducted  at  Bethel,  N.  C,  where  hundreds 
were  converted.  These  camp-meetings  grew  in 
favor  among  the  Methodists,  but  soon  were  repu- 
diated by  the  Presbyterians  on  account  of  the  excite- 
ments which  they  engendered.  There  were  abuses 
no  doubt,  but  as  a  means  for  bringing  out  a  scattered 
pioneer  population,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  a 
more  effective  measure  could  have  been  designed. 
For  miles  around  the  whole  population  would  turn 
out  to  the  number  of  thousands,  and  brought  thus 
within  the  influence  of  plain  and  pungent  preaching 
conversions    were    numerous.       Not    only    in    the 


194  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

western  settlements  and  the  South,  but  in  staid  New 
England  and  the  Eastern  States,  camp-meetings 
found  favor  with  the  friends  and  advocates  of 
Methodism.  From  1810  to  1830  such  gatherings 
multiplied  rapidly,  resulting  in  the  addition  of 
thousands  of  members  to  the  denomination  in 
various  parts  of  the  country.  In  1820  a  series  of 
remarkable  camp-meetings  was  conducted  in  Ten- 
nessee and  the  West.  That  year  nearly  two  thou- 
sand members  were  added  to  the  Nashville  district 
as  the  result  of  such  efforts.  These  meetings 
brought  out  the  most  able  of  evangelistic  preachers, 
while  the  novelty  of  such  services  awakened  the 
curiosity  of  the  people  and  drew  an  attendance  from 
all  classes,  including  the  most  godless  and  irreligious. 
As  not  infrequently  happens  under  such  circum- 
stances, many  "who  came  to  scoff  remained  to  pray." 
The  Methodists  were  the  first  to  make  use  of  the 
"anxious  seat,"  as  a  means  of  bringing  out  inquir- 
ers. During  the  winter  of  1806- 1807  there  was  a 
remarkable  revival  in  New  York  City,  which  resulted 
in  the  accession  of  more  than  four  hundred  members 
to  the  M.  E.  Church.  So  large  were  the  congrega- 
tions and  so  difficult  did  it  become  to  pray  and  con- 
verse with  seekers,  that  it  became  necessary  to  invite 
them  forward  to  the  front  seats,  which  were  vacated 
for  the  purpose.  The  measure  commended  itself  to 
many,  so  that  it  not  only  came  into  general  usage 


THE   METHODISTS.  195 

among  the  Methodists,  but  was  widely  employed  by 
other  evangelical  denominations  and  continues  to  be 
an  effective  revival  measure  to  the  present  day. 

The  early  Methodist  revivals,  especially  the 
camp-meetings,  were  often  very  demonstrative  and 
were  attended  with  physical  effects  the  psychology 
of  which  is  difficult  of  explanation.  Outcries,  faint- 
ings,  trances,  hysterical  laughter  and  weeping, 
shrieking,  and  "falling  under  the  power  of  God" 
were  not  unusual.  A  widespread  form  of  such  man- 
ifestation was  known  as  the  "jerks,"  which  Peter 
Cartwright  described  as  follows : 

"No  matter  whether  they  were  saints  or  sinners, 
they  would  be  taken  under  a  warm  song  or  sermon, 
and  seized  with  a  convulsive  jerking  all  over,  which 
they  could  not  by  any  possibility  avoid,  and  the 
more  they  resisted  the  more  they  jerked.  If  they 
would  not  strive  against  it  and  pray  in  good  earnest, 
the  jerking  would  usually  abate.  I  have  seen  more 
than  five  hundred  persons  jerking  at  once  in  my 
large  congregations.  Most  usually  persons  taken 
with  the  jerks,  to  obtain  relief,  as  they  said,  would 
rise  up  and  dance.  Some  would  run,  but  could  not 
get  away.  Some  would  resist;  on  such  the  jerks 
were  generally  very  severe." 

"To  see  those  proud  young  gentlemen  and  young 
ladies,  dressed  in  their  silks,  jewelry,  and  prunella, 
from  top  to  toe,  would  often  excite  my  risibilities. 


196  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

The  first  jerk  or  so,  you  would  see  their  fine  bonnets, 
capes,  and  combs  fly;  and  so  sudden  would  be  the 
jerking  of  the  head  that  their  long  loose  hair  would 
crack  almost  as  loud  as  a  wagoner's  whip.  .  .  . 
There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that,  with  weak- 
minded,  ignorant,  and  superstitious  persons,  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  sympathetic  feeling  with  many 
that  claimed  to  be  under  the  influence  of  this  jerk- 
ing exercise;  and  yet,  with  many  it  was  perfectly 
involuntary.  It  was  on  all  occasions  my  practice  to 
recommend  fervent  prayer  as  a  remedy,  and  it 
almost  universally  proved  an  effectual  antidote."* 

Dr.  Buckley  finds  the  psychological  key  to  such 
phenomena  in  concentrated  attention  accompanied 
by  strong  religious  emotion,  which  finds  expression 
in  various  ways  according  to  the  constitution  of  the 
subject.  Some  find  relief  in  tears  or  hysterical 
laughter,  others  by  becoming  unconscious  or  losing 
control  of  the  muscles  of  the  body,  while  still  others 
become  possessed  of  an  unusual  calmness.  The  prev- 
alence of  any  of  these  types  in  a  particular  locality 
at  a  given  time  he  ascribes  to  a  sympathetic  feeling 
and  also  to  the  fact  that  their  subjects  often  attribute 
to  them  a  divine  or  necessary  origin. f 

In  order  to  comprehend  the  success  of  early 
Methodism,  we  must  not  only  be  familiar  with  the 

*  Autobiography,  pp.  48-51. 

t  Cf.  Buckley's  History  of  the  Methodists,  pp.  218,  219. 


THE    METHODISTS.  197 

system  under  which  the  denomination  labored,  the 
means  employed,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  sub- 
jects of  their  revivals  were  affected,  but  we  must  also 
have  some  understanding  of  the  men,  who  were  the 
instruments  of  this  mighty  work  and  these  mighty 
results. 

The  early  Methodist  pioneers,  who  carried  the 
message  of  salvation  to  the  Western  and  Southern 
wilds  were  destitute  of  the  advantages  of  college  or 
theological  training.  The  settlers  into  whose  cabins 
they  went,  themselves  were  without  the  advantages 
of  schools  or  education,  so  that  liberally  educated 
men  were  not  absolutely  necessary  to  reach  them, 
nor  would  they  have  reached  them  unless  they  had 
entered  sympathetically  into  the  conditions  amid 
which  the  pioneers  lived.  The  early  itinerants  ad- 
justed themselves  to  the  conditions  of  the  people,  so 
that  they  were  fitted,  although  illiterate,  to  save  and 
uplift  the  hardy  pioneers  on  the  outskirts  of  civiliza- 
tion. Experience  was  their  chief  teacher  and  their 
efforts  were  under  the  direction  of  a  presiding  elder. 
Often  a  young  preacher  would  be  placed  on  a  large 
circuit  to  assist  a  man  of  extended  experience.  In 
this  way  the  young  preachers  had  the  personal  over- 
sight and  sympathy  of  men  of  large  and  varied  ex- 
perience. In  this  manner  also  the  young  minister 
would  receive  the  most  valuable  help  in  the  develop- 
ment of  those  powers  which  would  make  him  in- 


198  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

creasingly  useful  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  The 
lack  of  education  was  thus  supplied,  imperfectly  per- 
haps, and  yet  many  of  these  self-trained  and  self- 
educated  men  would  have  been  a  credit  to  any 
denomination,  not  only  on  account  of  their  soul-win- 
ning capacities,  but  because  of  the  truly  conspicuous 
abilities  which  they  displayed. 

The  one  indispensable  characteristic,  which  more 
than  all  else  contributed  to  make  these  men  what 
they  were,  was  a  consuming  zeal  for  the  salvation  of 
men.  It  was  this  passion  for  souls  which  influenced 
them  to  withstand  peril  and  suffer  hardship,  from 
which  most  men  would  have  shrunk.  Wherever 
they  went  they  considered  it  a  priceless  privilege  to 
proclaim  the  gospel  of  Christ.  If  they  were 
cordially  received  it  was  taken  as  an  evidence  of 
God's  favor.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  were  sub- 
jected to  ridicule  and  unkind  treatment,  it  was 
esteemed  as  a  token  that  God  was  with  them,  for 
were  they  not  taught  that  they  that  will  live  godly 
in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution?  A  single 
ambition  inspired  them  and  that  was  to  lead  sin- 
ning men  to  One  who  had  power  to  blot  out  their 
transgressions  and  enkindle  within  them  the  divine 
ideals  of  a  new  life.  They  preached  the  cardinal 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  emphasizing  repentance, 
regeneration,  justification  by  faith,  and  "holiness 
without  which  no  man  should  see  the  Lord."     The 


THE    METHODISTS.  199 

prevailing  type  of  their  theology  was  Arminian,  but 
as  Professor  Fisher  has  said,  it  was  Arminianism  on 
fire.  Through  it  all  burned  this  unquenchable  zeal 
for  the  salvation  of  men.  Every  possible  opportunity 
was  embraced  that  this  end  might  be  attained,  with 
results  which  often  were  astounding. 

Of  this  we  have  a  remarkable  example  in  an  ex- 
perience of  Peter  Cartwright,  the  pioneer  preacher. 
He  was  returning  from  a  session  of  the  General 
Conference  and  night  had  overtaken  him  in  the 
Cumberland  Mountains.  He  arrived  at  an  inn  and 
sought  entertainment,  but  was  told  that  they  were 
to  have  a  dance  there  that  evening.  On  receiving 
assurance  of  civil  treatment  he  decided  to  remain. 
He  sat  quietly  musing  as  the  dance  went  on  and 
longed  for  an  opportunity  to  preach  to  the  people. 
Finally  he  was  approached  by  a  mountain  beauty 
and  invited  to  become  her  partner  in  the  dance. 
Without  consideration  he  resolved  on  a  desperate 
experiment,  and  together  they  took  the  floor.  As 
the  fiddler  started  to  put  his  instrument  in  order, 
Cartwright  requested  him  to  hold  a  moment  and 
then  stated  to  the  company  that  for  years  he  had 
never  taken  a  step  of  any  importance  without  first 
asking  the  blessing  of  God  upon  it,  and  he  desired 
to  ask  God's  blessing  upon  the  beautiful  young 
woman  and  upon  all  that  company  for  the  kindness 
shown  to  an  entire  stranger.     Grasping  the  young 


200  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

lady's  hand  and  dropping  on  his  knees  he  began  to 
pray  in  real  Methodist  fashion  for  the  conversion 
of  that  company.  Some  fled,  others  wept  and  still 
others  fell  upon  their  knees.  The  young  woman 
tried  to  get  away,  but  so  tightly  did  he  hold  her  in 
his  grasp  that  she  fell  upon  her  knees  also.  Having 
finished  his  prayer  he  arose  and  commenced  to 
exhort,  after  which  he  sang  a  hymn.  The  young 
woman  who  had  invited  him  to  dance  lay  prostrate 
crying  for  mercy.  Thus  he  continued  to  pray,  sing 
and  exhort  all  night,  and  a  number  were  converted. 
He  remained  a  day  or  two  longer  with  remarkable 
results.  On  his  departure  he  organized  a  society, 
receiving  thirty-two  into  membership,  and  made 
arrangements  to  send  them  a  preacher.  The  land- 
lord was  appointed  class  leader,  and  a  powerful 
revival  which  spread  throughout  all  that  region 
grew  out  of  this  singular  circumstance.  Said  Cart- 
wright  :  "Several  of  the  young  men  converted  at 
this  Methodist  preacher  dance  became  useful  minis- 
ters of  Jesus  Christ." 

The  membership  as  well  as  the  ministry  were 
intensely  interested  in  the  promotion  of  revivals. 
Converted  as  they  were  in  revivals  it  was  but  natural 
that  they  should  labor  for  such  seasons  of  refresh- 
ing. They  rendered  the  most  loyal  and  faithful 
assistance  to  their  pastors  at  such  times,  and  in- 
stances are  not  wanting  where  revivals  commenced 


THE    METHODISTS.  201 

and  were  carried  on  through  the  unaided  efforts  of 
the  laity.  This  intense  interest  in  revivals  made  the 
early  history  of  Methodism  one  continuous  record 
of  revival.  Each  revival,  as  the  news  spread,  would 
give  an  impulse  to  revivals  elsewhere,  so  that  the 
work  would  extend  from  community  to  community 
and  from  settlement  to  settlement  until  a  wide  scope 
of  territory  would  be  embraced  by  the  movement. 

In  addition  to  the  revivals  which  were  the  outcome 
of  their  own  efforts,  the  Methodists  shared  in  the 
great  revival  movements  of  the  period.  For  exam- 
ple, during  the  great  Boston  revival  of  1 841  -1842, 
when  under  the  preaching  of  Knapp,  Finney,  Kirk 
and  others,  more  than  four  thousand  members  were 
added  to  the  evangelical  churches  of  the  city,  the 
Methodists  received  over  twelve  hundred  members 
on  probation.  But  if  the  Methodists  shared  in  the 
great  revival  movements  of  the  period,  it  must  be 
said  that  other  denominations  shared  in  the  revivals 
of  Methodism.  In  all  probability  the  accessions  to 
the  various  denominations  from  this  source  were 
many  times  larger  than  the  accessions  to  the  Metho- 
dist churches  from  the  other  great  revivals  of  the 
time. 

Unless  we  except  the  eccentric  Lorenzo  Dow,  dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  was 
but  a  single  evangelist  in  the  common  acceptance  of 
the  term  throughout  the  Methodist  communion.     In 


202  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

1840  Rev.  James  Caughey,  a  member  of  the  Troy 
Conference,  believing  that  he  had  been  called  to  do 
the  work  of  an  evangelist,  asked  to  be  relieved  from 
the  duties  of  the  pastorate.    After  laboring  in  Mon- 
treal and  the  Province  of  Quebec,  he  went  to  Great 
Britain,  where  he  spent  several  years  in  the  chief 
cities  of  Ireland  and  England.     It  was  during  this 
campaign   that  there  came  under   his   influence   a 
young  lad  who  was  led  thereby  to  become  a  soul 
winner  himself,  and  that  young  lad  has  since  been 
known  to  the  world  as  General  William  Booth  of 
the  Salvation  Army.     In  the  revivals  conducted  by 
Caughey   in  Great   Britain  it   was   estimated   that 
twenty  thousand  persons  were  converted.     Return- 
ing to  America  in  1848,  he  labored  in  New  York 
City,  Albany,  Providence,  Lowell,  Fall  River,  and 
many  other  places  throughout  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  with  excellent  results.     Mr.  Caughey  was 
described  as  plain  in  appearance,  simple  in  manner, 
straightforward   in    action — never   presuming   and 
never  out  of  place.    He  was  not  a  great  orator  in  the 
usual  acceptance  of  the  term,  but  there  was  some- 
thing about  his  simple  and  direct  presentation  of  the 
truth  that  riveted  the  attention  of  men  and  turned 
their  thoughts  to  the  important  concerns  of  the  soul, 
so  that  wherever  he  went  men  were  soon  led  to 
inquire  the  way  of  salvation.     He  was  a  man  of 
prayer  and  intense  earnestness.     He  presented  not 


THE    METHODISTS.  203 

only  the  invitations  of  the  gospel  but  the  threaten- 
ings  of  the  law.  Holiness  or  sanctification  was  one 
of  his  fundamental  teachings,  the  necessity  of  which 
he  sought  to  impress  upon  all  Christian  hearts.  The 
methods  which  he  employed  and  the  doctrines  which 
he  enforced  were  not  dissimilar  to  those  which  pre- 
vailed throughout  his  denomination. 

At  a  little  later  period  Rev.  William  Taylor, 
afterwards  Bishop,  after  a  thrilling  experience  as  a 
missionary  in  the  newly  discovered  gold  fields  of 
California,  entered  the  evangelistic  field  and  was 
successful  in  winning  multitudes  to  Christ.  Since 
that  time  evangelists  have  by  no  means  been  uncom- 
mon among  the  Methodists.  Of  evangelistic 
preachers  there  never  has  been  any  lack  and  these 
men,  in  the  early  days  of  the  denomination,  were 
instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  a  great  multitude, 
whom  no  man  can  number.  Of  Peter  Cartwright  it 
was  said  that  during  his  more  than  sixty  years'  ex- 
perience as  a  circuit  rider  and  presiding  elder,  ten 
thousand  souls  were  converted  under  his  ministry 
and  more  than  twenty  thousand  were  received  into 
the  church.  Other  examples,  less  conspicuous  per- 
haps, might  be  mentioned  but  space  forbids. 

As  a  result  of  the  numerous  revivals  of  early 
Methodism  the  growth  of  the  denomination  during 
this  period  was  truly  marvelous.  Much  of  the  West 
and  South  was  saved  to  Christianity.     Other  de- 


204  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

nominations  to  be  sure  had  a  share  in  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  these  sections,  but  the  chief  glory,  beyond  all 
question,  belongs  to  the  Methodists. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  first  half  of  the 
century,  the  M.  E.  Church  became  divided,  chiefly 
on  account  of  the  slavery  question.  The  controver- 
sies and  bitterness  thus  engendered,  retarded  the 
work  of  the  church  and  added  to  the  religious  stag- 
nation which  had  settled  down  upon  the  country. 


CHAPTER   XL 

DENOMINATIONAL  MOVEMENTS CONCLUDED. 

In  the  great  revivals  which  swept  over  the  coun- 
try during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
there  was  scarcely  a  denomination  which  did  not 
share  in  the  quickened  spiritual  life  of  the  period. 
Said  Dr.  Gardner  Spring:  "The  period,  commenc- 
ing with  the  year  1792,  and  terminating  with  1842, 
was  a  memorable  period  in  the  history  of  the 
American  church.  Scarcely  any  portion  of  it  but 
was  visited  by  copious  effusions  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
From  north  to  south,  and  from  east  to  west,  our 
male,  and  more  especially  our  female  academies,  our 
colleges,  and  our  churches  drank  largely  of  this 
fountain  of  living  waters."* 

Bishop  Mcllvaine  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  speaking  of  the  influence  of  revivals  in  his 
own  denomination,  said :  "During  this  period,  our 
Episcopal  churches,  under  a  greatly  extended  and 
more  earnest  and  evangelical  ministry,  were  in  many 
places  favored  of  God  with  marked  manifestations 

*  Humphrey's  Revival  Sketches,  p.  214. 


206  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

of  the  power  of  the  Spirit;  bowing  the  hearts  of 
many  persons,  within  a  short  space  of  time,  to  the 
obedience  of  Christ.  I  have  nowhere  seen  more 
fruitful  'revivals  of  religion,'  in  which  conversions 
were  more  marked,  the  spiritual  results  more  benefi- 
cial and  permanent.  How  many  of  our  clergy  can 
tell  of  such  movements  under  their  labors,  and  bless 
God  for  their  issues  of  life.  And  how  many  can 
point  to  revivals  in  Episcopal  churches  as  marking 
their  spiritual  birthdays."* 

Three  denominations  of  minor  importance — the 
United  Brethren  in  Christ,  the  Evangelical  Associa- 
tion, and  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  all  of 
which  came  into  existence  about  the  beginning  of 
the  century,  are  deserving  of  special  mention  on 
account  of  the  influence  which  they  have  exerted 
upon  the  revival  history  of  our  country. 

The  earliest  of  these,  the  United  Brethren  in 
Christ,  owe  their  origin  chiefly  to  the  labors  of 
Philip  William  Otterbein,  whom  Asbury  character- 
ized as  "the  holy,  the  great  Otterbein."  He  was 
born  June  3,  1726,  at  Dillenburg  in  the  duchy  of 
Nassau,  Germany,  was  educated  at  Herborn,  and 
came  to  America  as  a  German  Reformed  missionary 
in  1752.  His  first  settlement  in  this  country  was  at 
Lancaster,  Pa.,  which  then  had  the  second  largest 
German   Reformed    Church    in   the   colonies.      He 


*Ibid.,  pp.  221,  222. 


THE    UNITED    BRETHREN.  207 

afterwards  preached  at  various  other  places  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  but  for  nearly  twenty 
years  prior  to  his  death  in  18 14  he  was  pastor  of  an 
independent  German  congregation  in  Baltimore. 

During  Otterbein's  Lancaster  pastorate  he  met 
with  a  deeper  religious  experience,  which  led  him  to 
enter  upon  revivalistic  labors  with  great  fervor.  Not 
alone  to  the  congregations  of  which  he  was  pastor 
did  he  thus  minister,  but  to  the  surrounding  neigh- 
borhoods he  made  frequent  visits,  conducting 
evangelistic  services  and  enlisting  the  co-operation 
of  the  spiritually  minded  in  these  efforts  for  the 
regeneration  of  men. 

In  this  work  he  early  became  associated  with 
Martin  Boehme,  a  pious  Mennonite,  whom  he  had 
met  at  a  great  barn  meeting  near  Lancaster.  Boehme 
was  engaged  in  a  similar  work  and  after  hearing 
him  preach,  Otterbein  was  so  impressed  with  the 
similarity  of  their  views  and  purposes,  that  he  em- 
braced him,  exclaiming :  "We  are  brethren,"  whence 
the  denomination  at  a  later  time  is  supposed  to  have 
taken  its  name. 

The  labors  of  Otterbein  and  Boehme  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  a  number  of  societies  of  pious  be- 
lievers in  various  parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  Mary- 
land, who  were  not  encouraged  to  leave  the  churches 
of  their  birth.  For  their  spiritual  guidance  and 
instruction,   teachers  or   preachers   were   appointed 


208  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

who  visited  them  from  time  to  time.  Eventually 
some  form  of  organization  became  necessary,  and 
conferences  were  formed,  the  first  one  meeting  in 
1789.  In  1800  these  scattered  societies  were  united 
into  one  body  which  was  denominated  "The  United 
Brethren  in  Christ."  An  itinerant  system  and  a 
form  of  church  government  similar  to  that  of  the 
Methodists  were  adopted,  and  during  the  period  this 
denomination  did  a  great  work  in  the  evangelization 
of  the  scattered  German  pioneers,  though  in  subse- 
quent times  the  work  of  the  church  has  been  chiefly 
among  an  English-speaking  population. 

Although  there  never  was  any  organic  connection 
between  the  Methodists  and  the  United  Brethren, 
there  always  was  the  warmest  sympathy  and  the 
heartiest  co-operation  between  them.  A  lasting 
friendship  sprang  up  between  Asbury  and  Otterbein, 
the  former  of  whom  used  his  influence  to  cause  the 
latter  to  accept  the  work  with  which  he  was  so  long 
identified  at  Baltimore.  When  Asbury  was  set 
apart  to  the  office  of  bishop,  at  his  request,  Otter- 
bein assisted  in  the  ordination  service,  and  when  the 
latter  died  Asbury  wrote  in  his  journal:  "Forty 
years  have  I  known  the  retiring  modesty  of  this  man 
of  God,  towering  majestic  above  his  fellows  in 
learning,  wisdom  and  grace,  and  yet  seeking  to  be 
known  only  to  God  and  the  people  of  God/ 

Similar  in  origin  and  purpose  was  the  Evangeli- 


THE    EVANGELICAL    ASSOCIATION.    209 

cal  Association.  In  1790  Jacob  Albright,  a  success- 
ful manufacturer  of  brick  and  tile  in  Lancaster 
County,  Pa.,  met  with  a  sore  bereavement  in  the 
death  of  several  of  his  children.  By  this  providence 
and  the  funeral  sermons  which  were  preached,  he 
came  into  a  sense  of  conviction  for  sin,  from  which 
he  ultimately  found  relief  through  the  prayers  and 
exhortations  of  one  Adam  Riegel,  an  independent 
lay  preacher.  Upon  conversion  Albright  united 
with  the  M.  E.  Church.  Eventually  he  was  led  to 
believe  that  God  had  called  him  to  the  evangelization 
of  the  German-Americans  in  the  country  round 
about.  But  the  Methodists  did  not  then  contem- 
plate a  work  among  a  foreign-speaking  population, 
and  so  meeting  with  no  encouragement  from  the 
church  of  his  choice  Albright  was  compelled  to 
organize  his  converts  into  independent  societies,  but 
along  lines  for  which  the  Methodists  served  as  a 
model.  These  societies  eventually  became  known 
as  the  Evangelical  Association,  of  which  Albright 
was  the  first  bishop,  an  office  which  he  did  not  long 
fill,  owing  to  his  death  in  1808.  But  the  work  which 
he  inaugurated  lived  and  was  instrumental  in  lead- 
ing many  thousands  of  German-Americans  to  em- 
brace the  gospel  of  Christ. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterians  originated  in  the 
great  revival  which  visited  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
about  the  beginning  of  the  century.     This  work,  as 


210  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

we  have  seen,  commenced  with  the  labors  of  Rev. 
James  McGready  in  Logan  County,  Ky.  The  work 
soon  spread  and  the  necessities  became  such  that  un- 
educated men  were  ordained  to  the  ministry  to  enter 
the  fields  which  had  already  whitened  to  the  harvest, 
and  for  the  demands  of  which  the  laborers  were  far 
too  few.  On  this  account  and  also  because  it  had 
permitted  candidates  for  ordination  to  except  certain 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Westminster  Confession,  the 
Cumberland  Presbytery  was  dissolved  by  the  Synod 
of  Kentucky  in  1806. 

After  seeking  in  various  ways  for  redress  but  in 
vain,  certain  members  of  this  exscinded  Presbytery 
reorganized  the  Cumberland  Presbytery  in  18 10 
as  an  independent  Presbytery,  eliminating  those 
doctrines  which  savored  of  what  they  regarded  as 
fatalism.  By  181 3  the  growth  had  been  so  great 
that  the  work  was  divided  into  three  Presbyteries 
and  the  Cumberland  Presbytery  was  resolved  into 
the  Cumberland  Synod.  By  1829  this  Synod  had 
become  a  General  Assembly,  which  accounts  for  the 
origin  of  the  church  and  its  name. 

The  outgrowth  of  a  revival,  as  might  be  expected, 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  were  essentially 
revivalistic.  Camp-meetings  and  circuit  preaching 
were  the  principal  means  employed  to  reach  the 
people.  The  early  preachers  manifested  an  unusual 
activity  for  the  evangelization  of  the  frontier  settle- 


CUMBERLAND    PRESBYTERIANS.    211 

merits  of  the  south  and  southwest.  But  the  evangel- 
istic zeal  of  the  church  far  exceeded  its  ability  to  care 
for  those  converted  under  its  labors,  as  a  conse- 
quence of  which  large  numbers  of  its  converts  be- 
came absorbed  in  other  denominations.  The  work 
accomplished  by  this  denomination  in  the  salvation 
of  men  was  a  worthy  one,  and  one  for  which  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterians  are  deserving  of  honora- 
ble mention  in  the  annals  of  American  revivals. 

Having  devoted  considerable  attention  to  the  de- 
nominational movements  of  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  we  are  prepared  to  sum  up  the 
results  of  the  period.  The  Awakening  of  1800 
turned  back  the  tide  of  infidelity,  aroused  the 
churches  from  the  lethargy  into  which  they  had 
fallen,  and  gave  to  them  a  profound  impulse  towards 
the  work  of  evangelization.  But  much  still  remained 
to  be  accomplished,  "and  there  remained  yet  very 
much  land  to  be  possessed."  The  frontier  settle- 
ments needed  to  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them, 
while  multitudes  in  various  portions  of  the  country 
were  as  yet  uninfluenced  by  the  churches.  As  a 
result  of  the  remarkable  revivals  and  revival  move- 
ments from  1 800- 1 850  the  religious  character  of  the 
country  was  greatly  changed.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  the  century  only  one  out  of  every  fifteen 
persons  was  connected  with  an  evangelical  church, 
and  there  was  but  one  church  organization  to  every 


212  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

1740  inhabitants,  but  by  1850  one  out  of  every 
seven  persons  was  a  member  of  an  evangelical 
church,  while  there  was  a  church  organization  to 
every  895  inhabitants.  The  frontier  settlements  had 
been  evangelized  and  the  colleges  of  the  land  had 
been  blessed  with  showers  of  refreshing  grace. 
Truly  a  marvelous  record  for  so  short  a  time.  But 
as  the  period  came  to  a  close  the  darkening  shadows 
were  beginning  to  gather.  Worldliness  and  indiffer- 
ence were  robbing  the  churches  of  their  power  and 
revivals  were  rare.  Happily  these  conditions  did 
not  long  prevail,  but  were  overcome  by  that  remark- 
able awakening,  known  as  the  Great   Revival  of 

1857- 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OE  1 85 7. 

The  Great  Revival  of  185 7- 1858  was  preceded  by 
a  combination  of  circumstances,  which  from  a 
purely  human  standpoint  would  have  been  regarded 
as  an  unfavorable  preparation  for  an  extensive 
religious  awakening.  A  consideration  of  these  cir- 
cumstances is  necessary  to  an  understanding  of  the 
providential  character  of  this  remarkable  work  of 
grace. 

It  was  a  time  of  intense  political  excitement.  Al- 
ready were  heard  the  distant  mutterings  of  that 
fearful  storm  which,  in  all  its  direful  fury,  was  des- 
tined to  burst  over  this  fair  land  of  ours,  visiting 
north  and  south  alike  with  the  desolations  of  an 
internecine  war.  As  early  as  the  Presidency  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  the  slavery  question  had  begun  to 
assume  proportions  of  national  importance.  The 
rapid  march  of  events — the  founding  of  the  ''Libera- 
tor" by  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  assassination  of 
Lovejoy,  the  work  of  Wendell  Phillips  and  his  co- 
adjutors, the  passage  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  the 


214  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

publication  of  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  the  Kansas- 
Missouri  warfare,  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court — had  served  to  keep  the  slavery 
question  before  the  minds  of  the  people,  so  that  by 
the  autumn  of  1857  public  feeling  was  at  fever  heat 
upon  the  subject. 

It  was  a  time  of  spiritual  declension.  From  1840 
to  1845  much  excitement  was  aroused  in  various 
parts  of  the  country  on  account  of  the  views  propa- 
gated by  William  Miller  and  others  in  sympathy 
with  him  concerning  the  second  advent  of  our 
Saviour  and  the  end  of  the  world.  From  a  study 
of  Daniel  and  the  Book  of  the  Revelation,  April  23, 
1843,  was  tne  date  agreed  upon  for  our  Lord's  ap- 
pearing. As  the  time  drew  near  the  excitement  in 
numerous  portions  of  the  land  became  intense. 
Great  meetings  were  held  and  extensive  prepara- 
tions were  made  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Ascen- 
sion robes  were  prepared.  Multitudes  neglected 
their  work,  and  many  who  were  rich  generously  sold 
their  goods  and  gave  to  the  poor.  The  day  arrived, 
but  it  brought  with  it  no  remarkable  phenomena. 
Nothing  daunted,  the  leaders  of  the  movement  con- 
cluded that  the  time  of  the  advent  was  to  be  March 
22,  1844,  and  their  deluded  followers  again  made 
ready  for  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man.  "The 
specified  day  came,  as  calm  and  bright  a  harbinger 
of  spring  as  ever  shone  upon  the  earth.    The  Son  of 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     215 

man  did  not  appear  in  the  clouds  of  heaven."  Other 
dates  were  set,  but  the  results  were  equally  disap- 
pointing. Finally  the  confidence  of  the  public  be- 
came shaken  and  the  excitement  was  at  an  end.  The 
faith  of  many  was  staggered,  not  a  few  became 
infidels,  others  passed  over  to  materialistic  views, 
while  those  who  returned  to  the  churches  were  for 
a  time  unfitted  for  Christian  service.  As  a  conse- 
quence public  confidence  in  religion  became  im- 
paired, and  churches  were  made  the  subject  of  ridi- 
cule and  abuse.  Revivals  were  few.  From  1843 
to  1857,  there  were  several  years  during  which  the 
accessions  to  the  churches  scarcely  equalled  the 
losses  sustained  by  death  and  discipline. 

The  Great  Revival,  moreover,  was  preceded  by  a 
period  of  financial  and  commercial  prosperity  unpre- 
cedented in  the  history  of  our  country.  The  dis- 
covery of  gold  in  California,  the  accessions  of 
territory  by  conquest  in  the  Mexican  War,  the  open- 
ing up  for  settlement  of  vast  tracts  of  arable  land 
throughout  the  west  and  northwest  stimulated  trade 
and  immigration.  A  great  impetus  was  given  to 
the  latter  by  the  famine  in  Ireland  and  the  revolu- 
tions which  had  taken  place  in  nearly  every 
European  state.  Multitudes  flocked  to  this  country, 
drawn  hither  by  the  promise  of  cheap  and  fertile 
lands.  Thus  the  great  west  became  peopled  and 
developed.     Cities,  territories  and  states  grew  up  in 


216  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

rapid  succession.  Population  increased  at  an  enor- 
mous ratio.  Railroad  building  almost  assumed  the 
form  of  a  craze.  Within  a  few  years  the  railroad 
mileage  of  the  country  increased  fourfold.  Specula- 
tion was  rife.  Gigantic  schemes  were  proposed  for 
the  internal  improvement  of  the  country  and 
projects  for  speedy  enrichment  multiplied  on  every 
hand.  Thus  it  was  that  the  "cares  of  this  world,  and 
the  deceitfulness  of  riches,  and  the  lusts  of  other 
things"  so  preoccupied  the  minds  of  men  that  they 
became  utterly  indifferent  to  the  claims  of  religion. 
These  conditions,  however,  were  suddenly  re- 
versed. In  the  autumn  of  1857  the  country  was 
visited  with  a  severe  financial  panic,  caused  by  exces- 
sive railroad  building,  over-speculation  and  a  wild- 
cat currency  system.  Each  state  regulated  its  own 
banking  system.  Some  of  the  banks  were  good, 
others  were  not,  and  as  they  issued  their  own  notes 
in  accordance  with  the  respective  state  laws,  the 
country  became  flooded  with  bank-notes  of  uncertain 
value.  Speculation  in  land  was  bolstered  up  by 
means  of  mortgages.  A  crash  was  inevitable. 
When  it  came,  merchants  by  the  thousands  all  over 
the  country  were  forced  to  the  wall,  banks  failed, 
and  railroads  went  into  bankruptcy.  The  financial 
ruin  of  the  country  seemed  complete.  Interest  on 
first-class  securities  rose  to  3%,  4%,  and  even  5% 
a    month.      Upon    ordinary    securities    no    money 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     217 

was  obtainable.  Specie  payments  were  sus- 
pended. Manufactories  were  shut  down  and  vast 
multitudes  were  thrown  out  of  employment.  In 
New  York  City  alone  thirty  thousand  lost  employ- 
ment on  account  of  these  stringent  conditions.  All 
classes  were  confronted  by  hard  times.  In  the 
midst  of  these  disasters  men  had  time  to  think,  and 
when  ruin  stared  them  in  the  face  they  could  find 
refuge  in  God. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  finan- 
cial panic  of  1857  was  a  cause  of  the  Great  Revival. 
Adversity  does  not  always  drive  men  to  God.  "In 
the  year  1837  there  was  a  commercial  revulsion, 
quite  as  widespread  and  unexpected  as  that  of  1857, 
and  ten-fold  more  disastrous;  yet  there  was  no  un- 
usual turning  to  religion,  no  mighty  movement  of 
the  popular  mind,  no  upheaving  of  the  founda- 
tions."* 

Notwithstanding  these  unfavorable  conditions  a 
revival  commenced,  which  was  so  unpretentious  in 
its  origin,  but  so  mighty  in  its  influence  and  results 
as  to  be  the  undoubted  work  of  God.  If  ever  a 
season  of  grace  was  providential  in  its  inception, 
pre-eminently  so  was  the  Revival  of  1857- 
1858.  The  down-town  church  problem  was  then  a 
pressing  one  in  many  of  the  churches  in  New  York 
City.    The  increasing  demands  of  trade  made  heavy 

*  Chambers'  Noon  Prayer  Meeting,  p.  284. 


218  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

encroachments  upon  the  early  residence  section  of 
the  city.  "Streets  once  filled  with  the  families  of 
substantial  and  opulent  citizens  were  invaded  by 
shops  and  warehouses,  and  in  a  short  time  entire 
rows  of  houses,  which  formerly  had  served  their 
occupants  at  once  for  a  place  of  business  and  a 
dwelling,  were  replaced  by  stately  blocks  adapted 
solely  to  business  purposes."  There  seemed  to  be 
no  diminution  of  population  in  these  down-town  dis- 
tricts, but  now  it  was  composed  of  a  large  foreign 
element  and  consisted  chiefly  of  the  submerged 
classes  who  apparently  were  beyond  the  reach  of 
religious  influences.  Consequently  church  attend- 
ance decreased  at  an  alarming  ratio,  and  became 
scarcely  a  tithe  of  what  it  had  been  in  former  days. 
In  view  of  these  circumstances  the  Brick  Presbyte- 
rian Church  and  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  had  been 
forced  to  move  to  more  inviting  districts.  A  similar 
situation  confronted  the  old  North  Dutch  Church 
located  at  the  corner  of  Fulton  and  William 
Streets.  For  many  years  it  had  served  a  purpose 
of  eminent  usefulness,  but  at  the  time  of  which  we 
write  it  was  suffering  a  state  of  decline.  Instead 
of  removing  to  some  other  portion  of  the  city  the 
church  decided  to  secure  the  services  of  a  lay  mis- 
sionary, and  if  possible  reach  the  unchurched  masses 
which  had  gathered  about  it. 

Mr.  Jeremiah  C.  Lanphier  was  employed  for  this 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     219 

purpose.  He  was  born  at  Coxsackie,  N.  Y.,  in  1809, 
and  for  a  period  of  more  than  twenty  years  had 
been  engaged  in  mercantile  business  in  New  York 
City.  In  1842  he  had  made  a  public  profession  of 
religion  and  had  united  with  the  Broadway  Taber- 
nacle. Later  he  became  affiliated  with  the  Brick 
Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  he  was  a  member 
when  he  entered  the  service  of  the  North  Dutch 
Church  as  a  lay-missionary.  An  eastern  journal  of 
the  period  described  him  as  "tall,  with  a  pleasant 
face,  an  affectionate  manner,  and  indomitable 
energy  and  perseverance;  a  good  singer,  gifted  in 
prayer  and  exhortation,  a  welcome  guest  to  any 
house,  shrewd  and  endowed  with  much  tact  and 
common  sense."  Relinquishing  at  once  his  secular 
affairs,  Mr.  Lanphier  entered  heartily  upon  the 
duties  of  his  new  position  July  1,  1857. 

It  was  his  first  effort  to  reach  the  unchurched 
masses  in  that  section  of  the  city.  The  field  was 
divided  up  into  districts  into  which  Mr.  Lanphier 
went,  calling  upon  every  family  and  where  it  was 
possible  upon  every  individual.  A  neat  folder,  com- 
mending the  lay-missionary,  giving  a  brief  history 
of  the  church  and  containing  a  description  of  its 
services,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  these  visited. 
Bibles  and  tracts  were  distributed,  and  by  the  em- 
ployment of  all  justifiable  means,  the  missionary 
sought  to  attract  the  masses  to  the  church  and  to 


220  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

their  Saviour.  Especial  attention  was  devoted  to 
the  hotels  and  boarding-houses  in  the  vicinity. 
Pews  were  set  apart  for  the  use  of  such;  the  pro- 
prietors were  informed  that  they  and  their  guests 
would  be  welcome  at  the  services,  notices  of  which 
were  displayed  in  these  places,  and  small  cards  bear- 
ing announcements  of  the  same  were  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  chambermaids  for  distribution  among 
the  guests  on  the  Sabbath  day. 

Amid  the  difficulties  and  discouragements  which 
Mr.  Lanphier  met,  he  found  comfort  and  strength 
in  prayer.  It  occurred  to  him  that  it  might  be 
profitable  for  others,  especially  those  engaged  in 
business  pursuits,  to  retire  from  their  activities  for 
a  brief  communion  with  God.  The  noon  hour 
seemed  the  most  feasible  one,  and  by  making  the 
services  sufficiently  varied  in  character,  with  the 
understanding  that  persons  might  come  or  go  at 
pleasure,  it  was  thought  that  such  a  service  might 
prove  to  be  a  source  of  helpfulness  to  all  who  could 
attend. 

At  twelve  o'clock  on  Wednesday,  September  23, 
1857,  the  room  on  the  third  floor  of  the  Consistory 
Building,  in  the  rear  of  the  North  Dutch  Church  on 
Fulton  Street,  was  opened  for  a  noon  prayer  meet- 
ing. In  his  missionary  visits  Mr.  Lanphier  had  an- 
nounced the  fact  of  such  a  meeting.  Hand-bills 
were  also  liberally  distributed  in  hotels,  shops,  fac- 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF  1857.     221 

tories,  mercantile  establishments,  counting-rooms, 
and  private  residences  in  the  neighborhood.  At  the 
appointed  hour,  Mr.  Lanphier  was  the  only  one 
present.  Thirty  minutes  slowly  passed  away,  when 
finally  the  first  attendant  appeared.  Others  came  in 
one  by  one  until  the  whole  gathering  numbered  six 
persons.  Wednesday,  September  30,  at  the  second 
meeting,  twenty  persons  were  present.  The 
week  following,  on  October  7,  the  number  had 
increased  to  forty.  It  was  not  the  original  purpose 
to  conduct  these  meetings  daily,  but  on  Wednesday 
only  of  each  week.  Between  the  second  and  third 
meetings,  after  due  consideration,  it  seemed  advisa- 
ble to  make  the  meeting  semi-weekly  or  daily. 
Strange  to  say  the  purpose  of  so  doing  was  antici- 
pated at  the  third  meeting  itself,  when  a  proposition 
was  made  and  carried  to  have  the  services  daily. 

During  the  weeks  that  followed,  the  increase  in 
attendance  was  slow  but  sure.  Men  of  all  classes 
and  conditions  attended  the  service.  Capitalists  and 
laborers,  manufacturers  and  artisans,  professional 
men,  merchants  and  clerks,  butchers  and  bakers, 
men  from  every  walk  in  life  were  represented  from 
day  to  day.  Draymen  would  drive  up  to  the  curb 
stone  and  securing  their  teams,  would  enter  the  ser- 
vice long  enough  for  the  singing  of  a  hymn  or  a 
season  of  prayer,  and  then  be  off  to  their  work. 
At  first  the  attendance  was  composed  of  men,  but 


222  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

gradually  the  gentler  sex  began  to  drop  in  one  by 
one  until  a  fair  proportion  of  the  attendants  were 
women. 

By  the  middle  of  January,  the  attendance  had  in- 
creased until  all  three  of  the  lecture  rooms  in  the 
Consistory  Building  were  filled  to  overflowing,  and 
simultaneous  meetings  under  different  leaders  were 
there  conducted. 

As  the  interest  increased  other  places  were  opened 
for  prayer  throughout  the  city  and  Brooklyn,  where 
a  daily  prayer  meeting  had  been  instituted  at  Ply- 
mouth Church,  nearly  if  not  quite  simultaneously 
with  the  Fulton  Street  meeting.  By  spring  more 
than  twenty  different  prayer  meetings  had  been 
established  in  New  York  City  alone.  Some  of  the 
largest  churches  in  the  city  were  filled  to  overflow- 
ing, multitudes  crowded  into  the  Free  Academy,  and 
the  fire  and  police  departments  opened  their  doors 
for  the  service  of  prayer.  Merchants  opened  rooms 
in  their  stores  where  their  clerks  could  meet  at 
stated  times  for  communion  with  God.  In  addition 
to  the  noon  prayer  meetings,  similar  gatherings 
were  held  at  nearly  all  hours  of  the  day  to  accommo- 
date the  convenience  of  every  one. 

Not  only  were  these  prayer  meetings  held  in 
different  parts  of  the  city,  but  preaching  services  at 
unwonted  times  and  in  unaccustomed  places  were 
conducted   to    further   the   interests   of   this   great 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     223 

revival.  Burton's  Theater,  on  Chambers  Street,  in 
the  very  center  of  New  York's  commercial  activity, 
was  employed  for  this  purpose.  Here  the  thronging 
multitudes  listened  to  the  stirring  sermons  and  ring- 
ing appeals  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Theodore  L. 
Cuyler,  Robert  M.  Hatfield,  and  other  eminent 
divines  of  the  day.  Everywhere  religion  seemed  to 
be  the  common  topic  of  conversation.  An  unwonted 
activity  manifested  itself  in  all  the  churches  of  the 
metropolis.  Clergy  and  laity  alike  seemed  to  be  en- 
gaged in  the  all-important  task  of  enforcing  the 
claims  of  religion  and  placing  before  men  the  duty 
of  repentance  and  the  necessity  of  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  publicity  given  to  the  movement  in  the  pub- 
lic press  was  an  efficient  means  in  promoting  the 
revival.  Reporters  were  detailed  to  narrate  the 
progress  of  the  meetings.  Startling  headlines  called 
the  attention  of  the  public  to  the  latest  "Revival 
News"  of  the  day,  and  for  the  time  being,  criminal 
trials,  politics,  casualities,  etc.,  were  overshadowed 
by  the  remarkable  religious  interest  which  had  been 
awakened.  At  one  time  the  New  York  dailies  pub- 
lished several  extras  filled  with  accounts  of  the 
progress  of  the  work  in  various  parts  of  the  land. 
For  such  a  movement  could  not  long  remain  local. 
On  the  wings  of  lightning  the  revival  spirit  spread 
to  the  various  cities  throughout  the  Northern  States, 


224  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

and  "daily  union  prayer  meetings"  were  at  once 
established  to  promote  the  interests  of  religion  and 
reach  the  hearts  of  men.  Brooklyn,  Philadelphia, 
Albany,  Boston,  Cincinnati,  and  Chicago,  soon  were 
brought  under  the  influence  of  the  Great  Revival. 

Philadelphia  was  one  of  the  first  cities  to  be 
reached  by  the  revival  movement.  The  winter  pre- 
ceding, Rev.  James  Caughey,  the  eminent  Methodist 
revivalist,  conducted  a  notable  series  of  meetings  in 
the  city,  during  the  progress  of  which  some  five 
hundred  persons  or  more  were  converted.  This 
served  no  doubt  as  a  gracious  preparation,  but  the 
revival  itself  was  a  direct  result  of  the  work  in  New 
York  City.  A  young  member  of  the  Philadelphia 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  had  attended 
some  of  the  early  meetings  at  Fulton  Street,  and 
thinking  that  a  similar  service  might  be  of  profit  in 
his  own  city,  he  broached  the  subject  to  some  of  his 
fellow  members  in  the  Association.  The  proposi- 
tion met  with  favor,  and  on  November  23,  1857,  a 
noon  prayer  meeting  was  inaugurated  at  the  Union 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  attendance  was 
at  first  discouraging,  never  exceeding  thirty-six.  At 
length  it  was  thought  best  to  secure  a  room  more 
centrally  located,  and  the  anteroom  of  Jayne's  Hall 
was  engaged  for  that  purpose,  early  in  February, 
1858.  Little  by  little  the  interest  and  the  attendance 
increased     until     it     became     necessary     to     hold 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     225 

the  service  in  the  large  hall.  Within  an 
incredible  space  of  time  the  seats  and  gal- 
leries were  filled  to  overflowing.  For  weeks  there 
was  an  attendance  of  three  thousand  daily  at  the 
Jayne's  Hall  meeting.  Similar  meetings  were  in- 
stituted at  the  Handel  and  Hayden  Hall,  American 
Mechanic's,  and  various  other  places  throughout  the 
city.  Daily  preaching  services  were  sustained  and 
a  special  prayer  meeting  was  established  for  the 
firemen  of  the  city.  Early  in  May  a  big  tent  was 
purchased  at  a  cost  of  two  thousand  dollars,  and  dur- 
ing the  four  months  that  it  was  pitched  in  the  city  it 
had  an  aggregate  attendance  of  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  persons.  The  spirit  of 
prayer  seemed  to  pervade  the  city,  and  as  a  result  of 
the  various  services,  it  was  estimated  that  ten 
thousand  persons  had  been  converted  during  the 
year,  one  denomination  alone  receiving  three 
thousand  accessions  and  another  eighteen  hundred. 
At  Boston,  where  Charles  G.  Finney  was  laboring, 
a  daily  business  men's  prayer  meeting  was  instituted 
at  the  Old  South  Church,  but  from  the  very  first  the 
place  was  too  strait  for  them  and  numerous  other 
daily  prayer  meetings  were  established  throughout 
the  city.  Ladies'  meetings  were  conducted  daily  by 
Mrs.  Finney  in  the  vestry  of  the  Park  Street 
Church.  The  whole  city  was  moved  and  the  revival 
became  so  general  that  it  was  impossible  to  make  an 


226  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

estimate  of  the  number  of  conversions  that  would 
approximate  the  truth.  Unitarians  and  orthodox 
alike  became  interested  and  attended  the  various 
meetings  in  large  numbers. 

In  Chicago,  the  Metropolitan  Theater  was  daily 
crowded  with  two  thousand  attendants  and  upwards, 
while  various  churches  opened  their  doors  for  the 
service  of  prayer.  Thus  the  revival  went  on,  ex- 
tending from  city  to  city  and  from  state  to  state, 
increasing  in  momentum  and  power  as  the  months 
passed  by. 

Besides  the  influence  of  the  noon  prayer  meeting 
there  were  other  forces  at  work  for  the  promotion 
of  the  revival.  In  the  late  autumn  of  1857  a  revival 
convention  was  called  at  Pittsburg,  which  was 
largely  attended  by  ministers  and  influential  laymen. 
Such  topics  were  discussed  as  the  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  revivals,  the  means  of  promoting  them,  the 
encouragements  to  seek  them.  A  ringing  appeal  to 
the  churches  was  formulated  with  the  request  that  it 
be  read  from  the  various  pulpits.  It  was  recom- 
mended that  the  official  members  of  churches  meet 
and  discuss  such  topics  as  had  received  considera- 
tion at  the  convention,  and  that  plans  be  adopted  for 
systematic  visitation,  in  order  to  effect  a  general 
revival.  Accordingly  the  first  Sabbath  in  January, 
1858,  was  observed  by  many  Presbyterian  and  other 
pastors  in  preaching  upon  the  necessity  for  a  revival, 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     227 

and  the  following  Thursday  was  set  apart  as  a  day 
of  humiliation  and  prayer.  Soon  after  the  Pitts- 
burg convention,  a  similar  gathering  assembled  at 
Cincinnati  with  the  same  object  in  view.  The  influ- 
ence of  these  conventions  was  highly  beneficial  and 
an  added  impetus  was  given  to  revivals  throughout 
the  country. 

Not  only  did  the  great  cities  feel  the  throbbings 
of  this  mighty  movement,  but  there  was  scarcely  a 
village,  or  hamlet,  or  community  throughout  the 
Northern  States  that  was  not  visited  with  showers 
of  refreshing  grace.  A  divine  influence  seemed  to 
pervade  the  land.  The  minds  of  men  were  wonder- 
fully moved  and  their  hearts  were  strangely  soft- 
ened. Those  who  were  unaccustomed  to  pray  or 
attend  divine  worship  became  deeply  interested  and 
could  be  reached  with  little  difficulty.  It  was  said 
that  there  were  towns  in  New  England  where 
scarcely  an  unconverted  person  remained.  In  one 
of  Mr.  Finney's  Boston  meetings  a  gentleman  arose 
and  said,  "I  am  from  Omaha,  in  Nebraska.  On  my 
journey  East  I  have  found  a  continuous  prayer 
meeting  all  the  way.  We  call  it  two  thousand  miles 
from  Omaha  to  Boston ;  and  here  was  a  prayer  meet- 
ing about  two  thousand  miles  in  extent." 

One  section  of  the  country  alone  was  not  power- 
fully affected  by  this  revival.  Slavery  seemed  to 
rest  like  a  great  pall  upon  the  Southern  States  and 


228  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

apparently  prevented  this  divine  visitation  from  ex- 
tending thither  to  any  remarkable  degree.  The  con- 
tentions about  the  "peculiar  institution"  were  so 
numerous,  and  the  public  mind  seemed  to  be  so  occu- 
pied with  questions  relating  thereto  that  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  shut  out  and  no  great 
results  were  realized. 

If  the  South  did  not  profit  to  any  great  extent  in 
this  movement,  its  influence  was  felt  abroad.  There 
can  be  no  question  that  the  great  revival,  which 
visited  Ireland  in  1859  and  extended  to  England 
and  Scotland,  received  its  impulse  in  part  from  the 
revival  in  America.  By  steamer  and  packet,  in  letter 
and  tract  and  newspaper,  the  tidings  were  carried 
until  a  general  expectancy  and  desire  were  awakened 
on  the  part  of  the  British  public  for  a  similar  visita- 
tion on  that  side  of  the  water.  Moreover  in  1858 
the  Fulton  Street  prayer  meeting  was  visited  by  a 
delegation  from  the  Presbyterian  Synod  of  Ireland 
for  the  purpose  of  studying  this  remarkable  move- 
ment that  the  way  might  thereby  be  prepared  for  a 
work  of  grace  among  their  own  countrymen.  The 
following  year  a  great  revival,  resembling  in  many 
respects  the  one  in  America,  swept  over  the  British 
Isles,  producing  similar  results  for  good. 

The  characteristics  of  the  Great  Revival  were 
such  as  to  make  it  absolutely  unique.    It  stands  apart 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     229 

both  in  its  method  and  its  aims  from  every  other 
great  awakening.  There  were  no  efforts  to  get  up  a 
revival  or  to  arouse  great  public  interest  upon  the 
subject.  None  of  the  elaborate  machinery  of 
modern  revivals  was  made  use  of.  There  was  no 
concerted  action  and  there  seemed  little  likelihood 
that  the  principal  means  used  should  produce  results 
of  unusual  magnitude.  From  its  very  inception  this 
revival  was  the  work  of  God.  A  humble  layman,  an 
ordinary  man,  who  was  laboring  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  others,  cried  out  in  his  supplications: 
"Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  and  a  busi- 
ness men's  prayer  meeting  at  the  noon-tide  hour  was 
the  result.  An  inopportune  time,  some  would  have 
said,  but  it  became  a  source  of  blessing  to  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands.  Its  influence  was  felt 
throughout  this  broad  land  of  ours,  and  tidings 
thereof  were  wafted  abroad  to  other  shores  to  in- 
spire men  in  lands  afar  with  hope  and  faith  that  God 
would  bless  them  and  pour  out  his  Spirit  for  the 
salvation  of  the  people. 

Providential  in  its  origin,  it  was  providential  in 
its  continuance.  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  in  his  annual 
address  before  the  Diocesan  Convention  of  Ohio, 
said :  "As  for  myself,  I  desire  to  say  that  I  have  no 
doubt  'whence  it  cometh.'  So  far  as  I  have  had  per- 
sonal opportunities  of  observing  its  means,  and 
spirit,  and  fruits;  so  far  as  I  have  had  opportunity 


230  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

of  gathering  information  about  it,  frorh  judicious 
minds,  in  various  parts  of  my  own  Diocese,  and  of 
the  country  at  large,  I  rejoice  in  the  decided  con- 
viction that  it  is  'the  Lord's  doing;'  unaccountable 
by  any  natural  causes,  entirely  above  and  beyond 
what  any  human  device  or  power  could  produce ;  an 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  God's  people, 
quickening  them  to  greater  earnestness  in  his  ser- 
vice; and  upon  the  unconverted,  to  make  them  new 
creatures  in  Christ  Jesus." 

This  divine  visitation,  providential  in  its  charac- 
ter, was  emphatically  a  lay  revival.  There  was  no 
evangelist  of  national  reputation,  no  minister,  how- 
ever influential,  to  whom  credit  could  be  given  for 
this  mighty  work  of  grace,  even  as  the  indirect 
instrument  of  its  accomplishment.  The  revival  was 
carried  on  independently  of  the  ministry  and  almost 
without  their  aid.  The  ministry  were  not  ignored, 
nor  was  there  in  any  sense  an  opposition  to  them. 
They  carried  on  their  regular  services,  but  to  greatly 
increased  congregations,  which  were  the  immediate 
fruits  of  the  revival,  and  by  their  preaching  and 
prayers  they  gave  encouragement  to  the  work  and 
co-operated  in  it.  The  laity  were  especially  active. 
The  movement  commenced  with  the  efforts  of  a 
layman,  it  enlisted  the  sympathies  and  energies  of 
other  laymen  throughout  the  country  and  was  car- 
ried on  chiefly  through  their  instrumentality. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     231 

The  methods  employed  for  the  furtherance  of  this 
work  were  the  distribution  of  tracts,  personal  work, 
and  the  daily  union  prayer  meetings.  In  some  in- 
stances, as  at  Burton's  Theater,  New  York,  and 
elsewhere,  preaching  was  employed  to  promote  the 
revival  after  it  had  commenced,  but  this  was  excep- 
tional and  in  most  cases  there  was  but  little  preach- 
ing aside  from  that  of  the  regular  Sabbath  services. 
The  principal  means  relied  upon  were  the  daily 
union  prayer  meetings.  Said  Finney :  "There  was 
such  a  general  confidence  in  the  prevalence  of  prayer, 
that  the  people  very  extensively  seemed  to  prefer 
meetings  for  prayer  to  meetings  for  preaching.  The 
general  impression  seemed  to  be,  'We  have  had  in- 
struction until  we  are  hardened;  it  is  time  for  us 
to  pray.'  The  answers  to  prayer  were  constant,  and 
so  striking  as  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  people 
generally  throughout  the  land.  It  was  evident  that 
in  answer  to  prayer  the  windows  of  heaven  were 
opened  and  the  Spirit  of  God  poured  out  like  a 
flood."* 

The  purpose  of  the  original  noon  prayer  meeting 
on  Fulton  Street  was  not  the  conversion  of  sinners. 
It  was  designed  for  those  engaged  in  the  active  pur- 
suits of  life,  that,  in  the  midst  of  their  cares  and 
activities,  they  might  withdraw  their  minds  from 
their  duties  and  perplexities  and  find  spiritual  re- 

*  Autobiography,  p.  444. 


2^2  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

freshment  in  a  brief  communion  with  God.  In  the 
first  instance  it  was  simply  a  revival  of  prayer.  Men 
came  together  to  pray  and  wait  before  the  Lord.  It 
was  but  natural  for  men  who  pray  to  work  and  put 
forth  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  their  fellows. 
However  much  we  may  expatiate  upon  the  innate 
selfishness  of  men,  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  on 
great  occasions,  at  unusual  crises,  there  is  a  higher, 
nobler  altruistic  instinct  which  manifests  itself  in 
active  endeavors  for  the  welfare  of  others.  As  the 
interest  at  the  Fulton  Street  meeting  deepened,  it 
proved  no  exception  to  this  general  rule.  Requests 
for  prayer,  either  on  the  part  of  unconverted  persons 
themselves  or  in  their  behalf  on  the  part  of  inter- 
ested friends,  soon  began  to  multiply,  and  as  the 
work  went  on  these  requests  became  more  importu- 
nate and  more  earnest.  To  pray  and  not  to  work 
was  impossible.  As  men  prayed  for  others  they 
manifested  an  unwonted  activity  in  their  behalf. 
They  dealt  personally  with  the  unconverted.  They 
invited  them  to  the  meetings.  They  distributed 
handbills  and  tracts.  Time  and  effort  were  ex- 
pended to  further  the  interests  of  the  revival.  But 
underlying  the  use  of  all  external  means  and 
agencies  was  the  predominating  spirit  of  prayer. 
The  recorded  instances  of  answered  prayer  were 
remarkable  and  volumes  have  been  written  upon  the 
subject.     Throughout  this  work  of  grace  the  daily 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     233 

union  prayer  meetings  continued  to  be  the  principal 
means  for  its  promotion. 

A  contemporary  description  of  one  of  these 
prayer  meetings,  that  at  Philadelphia,  will  afford 
some  idea  of  the  chief  means  employed  for  the  fur- 
therance of  this  mighty  revival :  "There  is  no  noise, 
no  confusion.  A  layman  conducts  the  meeting. 
Any  suitable  person  may  pray  or  speak  to  the  audi- 
ence for  five  minutes  only.  If  he  does  not  bring  his 
prayer  to  a  close  in  that  time,  a  bell  is  touched  and 
he  gives  way.  One  or  two  verses  of  the  most 
spiritual  hymns  go  up,  'like  the  sound  of  many 
waters ;'  requests  for  prayer  for  individuals  are  then 
made,  one  layman  or  minister  succeeds  another  in 
perfect  order  and  quiet,  and  after  a  space  which 
seems  a  few  minutes — so  strange,  so  absorbing,  so 
interesting  is  the  scene — the  leader  announces  that 
it  is  one  o'clock,  and  punctual  to  the  moment  a  min- 
ister pronounces  the  benediction,  and  the  immense 
audience  slowly,  quietly  and  in  perfect  order,  pass 
from  the  hall !  Some  minister  remaining  to  converse 
in  a  small  room  off  the  platform  with  any  who  may 
desire  spiritual  instruction."* 

There  was  nothing  about  this  revival  which  led 
to  flagrant  evils  or  violent  abuses.  There  were  none 
of  the  exciting  agitations  or  lamentable  disorders, 
which  had  characterized  some  of  the  earlier  Ameri- 


The  Noon  Prayer  Meeting,  p.  273. 


234  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

can  revivals,  particularly  the  Great  Awakening. 
Excitements  there  were  to  be  sure,  but  not  of  an 
unhealthy  character.  The  excitement,  or  more 
properly  the  deep  interest,  of  the  Revival  of  1857 
was  brought  about  by  the  publicity  given  to  the 
movement  through  the  columns  of  the  public  press 
and  in  topics  of  conversation,  all  of  which  had  a  ten- 
dency to  draw  the  attention  of  the  unconverted,  with 
a  compelling  force,  to  a  consideration  of  the  con- 
cerns of  the  soul.  Revivals  have  been  compared  to 
spring  freshets,  but  this  revival  could  be  compared 
more  appropriated  to  a  May  shower,  gentle  in  its 
influence,  but  refreshing  and  far-reaching  in  its  con- 
sequences. Imperceptibly  almost  the  revival  com- 
menced, gradually  it  increased  in  interest  and  power 
until  the  whole  nation  and  even  foreign  lands  had 
felt  its  gracious  influence.  It  did  not  subside  with 
any  unfavorable  reaction  or  as  the  result  of  an  un- 
healthy excitement.  It  reached  the  height  of  its 
influence  and  then  quietly,  almost  imperceptibly  it 
waned,  leaving  the  churches  and  communities  which 
it  had  visited  more  spiritual,  stronger  in  their  influ- 
ence for  good,  and  richer  in  countless  ways,  having 
a  more  abiding  confidence  in  God  who  reigns  above, 
and  with  a  more  hopeful  view  for  the  ultimate  con- 
version of  the  world. 

In  every  great  awakening  there  is  a  tendency  to 
exalt  the  means  employed  above  the  instrument  who 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     235 

makes  use  of  such  means.  Such  a  tendency  appeared 
in  this  revival.  There  was  a  disposition  on  the  part 
of  some  to  overlook  the  sovereign  workings  of  the 
Lord  and  to  attribute  the  results  to  the  daily  union 
prayer  meetings,  to  the  zeal  of  the  laity  and  their 
active  endeavors  for  the  salvation  of  men.  The 
story  is  told  of  one  who  said  that  in  his  estimation 
"the  great  power  of  the  church  for  the  salvation  of 
souls,  now,  consisted  in  the  union  prayer  meetings 
and  the  union  Sunday  School."  Another  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  "Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation had  come  to  take  religion  out  of  the  church 
and  ventilate  it."  Such  views,  if  persisted  in,  might 
have  wrought  incalculable  injury  to  the  cause  of 
Christ,  but  they  were  wisely  discountenanced,  so 
that  the  revival  came,  exerted  its  powerful  and  far- 
reaching  influence,  and  quietly  passed  away,  without 
having  been  impaired  by  any  appreciable  ill-effects. 
Four  notable  results  mark  the  achievements  of  the 
Great  Revival.  First,  The  number  added  to  the 
Churches.  Speaking  in  his  diocesan  address  of  the 
extent  of  the  revival,  Bishop  Mcllvaine  said :  "There 
have  been,  in  the  American  churches,  revivals  as 
pure  and  simple,  and  in  their  sphere  as  effective  for 
good.  But  we  read  of  none  of  such  extent ;  reaching 
at  the  same  time  so  many  people ;  scattered  over  such 
a  length  and  breadth  of  territory ;  appearing  in  so 
many  denominations  of  Christians,  of  widely  sep- 


236  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

arated  ecclesiastical  institutions;  leavening  so  many 
colleges  and  other  institutions  of  education;  so 
penetrating  with  one  and  the  same  influence  all 
gradations  of  society,  from  the  most  cultivated  to 
the  most  unlettered;  in  cities  and  villages,  in  the 
counting-house  of  the  merchant,  in  the  work-shop 
of  the  mechanic,  in  factories,  in  printing-offices, 
among  classes  of  persons  usually  regarded  as  pecu- 
liarly removed  from  and  fenced  against  the  influence 
of  gospel  truth.  How  can  we  witness  all  this,  and 
not  see  the  hand  of  God  and  take  courage,  and  de- 
sire and  pray  for  more  and  more  of  such  manifesta- 
tions of  his  grace?" 

There  was  scarcely  a  religious  denomination 
which  did  not  share  in  the  gracious  fruits  of  this 
revival.  Various  estimates  of  the  number  converted 
range  from  three  hundred  thousand  to  one  million 
persons.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  with  accuracy 
the  numerical  results,  but  an  innumerable  host  whom 
no  man  can  number  were  converted,  most  of  whom 
united  with  some  branch  of  the  church  of  Christ.  In 
the  city  of  Philadelphia  alone  there  were  ten  thou- 
sand conversions.  For  a  period  of  six  to  eight 
weeks,  when  the  revival  was  at  its  height,  it  was 
estimated  that  fifty  thousand  persons  were  converted 
weekly  throughout  the  country,  and  as  the  revival 
lasted  for  more  than  a  year  it  becomes  evident  that 
the  sum  total  of  conversions  reaches  a  figure  that  is 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF   1857.     237 

enormous.  Conservative  judges  have  placed  the 
number  of  converts  at  five  hundred  thousand,  and 
this  estimate  in  all  probability  is  approximately 
correct. 

A  second  result  of  the  Revival  was  the  Organiza- 
tion of  the  Laity  for  aggressive  service.  Formerly 
the  idea  had  found  wide  acceptance  that  the  work  of 
the  church  was  to  be  done  by  the  pastor  in  conjunc- 
tion with  his  church  officiary.  In  this  respect  the 
influence  of  the  revival  was  quite  revolutionary,  but 
it  was  a  wholesome  revolution  which  tended  to 
magnify  the  usefulness  of  the  church  many-fold  and 
make  it  a  more  effective  agency  for  good.  The  laity 
were  aroused  as  to  the  possibilities  of  their  useful- 
ness. Having  witnessed  the  fruits  of  their  labors  in 
this  movement  laymen  came  to  realize  that  they  had 
a  part,  and  by  no  means  an  unimportant  part,  in  the 
extension  of  Christ's  kingdom.  An  awakened  laity 
infused  new  energy  and  new  life  into  the  various 
activities  of  the  church.  Their  energies  became  en- 
listed to  a  greater  extent  in  all  phases  of  Christian 
work  and  now  found  expression  in  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  the  Sunday  School,  City  Mis- 
sionary organizations,  and  kindred  forms  of  activity. 

The  revival,  moreover,  served  as  a  great  training 
school  for  laymen,  and  brought  to  light  the  abilities 
of  such  men  as  D.  L.  Moody,  who  has  left  a  lasting 
impress  upon  the  history  of  American  Christianity, 


238  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

and  whose  life  and  public  services  will  receive  ample 
consideration  at  its  appropriate  place  in  this  narra- 
tive. 

One  of  the  great  lessons  which  this  revival  was 
calculated  to  teach  was  that  the  work  of  the  church 
was  not  committed  to  the  clergy  alone  nor  to  the 
laity,  but  that  both  have  their  appropriate  sphere  in 
the  church  and  by  their  mutual  co-operation  the 
largest  results  are  accomplished  and  the  greatest 
usefulness  of  the  church  is  conserved. 

A  third  result  of  the  Revival  was  the  Promotion 
of  Interdenominational  Fellowship.  Hitherto  the 
various  denominations  had  viewed  one  another  with 
feelings  of  mutual  suspicion  and  distrust.  But  in 
this  work  of  refreshing  there  was  no  room  for  sec- 
tarian strife  or  jealousy.  Arminian  and  Calvinist, 
Baptist  and  Psedo-Baptist,  Congregationalist  and 
Episcopalian,  the  Methodist  in  his  glowing  zeal  and 
the  Friend  in  his  quiet  conservatism,  all  had  been 
blessed.  Sharing  thus  in  the  fruits  of  the  revival, 
they  could  not  but  magnify  the  things  which  they 
held  in  common,  in  contrast  to  the  differences  which 
kept  them  apart. 

The  fourth  result  of  the  Revival  was  a  Providen- 
tial Preparation  for  the  Civil  War.  As  the  Great 
Awakening  enabled  the  feeble  colonies  to  pass 
through  the  baptismal  fires  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion and  preserved  the  religious  institutions  of  the 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF  1857.     239 

country  from  complete  impairment  in  that  struggle, 
so  the  Great  Revival  of  185 7- 1858  served  to  prepare 
the  people  and  sustain  them  in  the  fearful  cataclysm 
which  swept  over  our  country  in  the  early  sixties 
and  threatened  to  blast  forever  our  free  institutions. 
It  is  interesting  to  raise  the  question  how  this  nation 
could  have  passed  through  the  dark  and  trying  times 
of  war  had  it  not  been  preceded  by  the  "most  extraor- 
dinary and  widespread  revival  ever  known  on 
this  continent."  It  was  the  religious  influences  gen- 
erated by  this  revival  which  served  to  give  strength 
to  the  wearied  soldier  on  his  long  forced  marches; 
which  inspired  him  with  courage  amid  the  perils  and 
carnage  of  battle;  which  brought  comfort  and  sup- 
port to  the  sufferer  in  the  hospital  or  the  grewsome 
prison-pen ;  and  which  gave  dying  peace  to  many  a 
youth  who  sacrificed  life  upon  the  altar  of  his 
country. 

The  revival  nerved  and  fortified  the  church  for 
this  fearful  struggle.  The  church  sent  forth  her 
sons  to  the  conflict,  and  while  she  gave  much, 
ofttimes  her  all,  yet  as  the  war  progressed,  there  was 
no  diminution  in  her  zeal.  Her  resources  seemed  to 
be  inexhaustible.  Instead  of  retrenching  in  her  mis- 
sionary gifts  and  activities,  notwithstanding  a  depre- 
ciating currency,  the  power  of  the  church  to  give 
seemed  only  to  be  multiplied,  while  her  activities  dur- 
ing the  long  struggle  suffered  no  serious  impairment. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  PERIOD  OE  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

The  Great  Revival  did  not  allay  the  sharpness  of 
the  controversy  over  the  slavery  question.  In  the 
fall  of  1859  tne  famous  raid  of  John  Brown 
occurred,  and  a  year  later  the  election  of  Lincoln  to 
the  Presidency  brought  the  issue  to  a  crisis.  The 
Southern  States  seceded  soon  after  and  formed  the 
Confederacy.  The  North  still  hoped  for  a  peaceful 
adjudication  of  the  difficulties  which  imperiled  the 
life  of  the  nation,  but  that  hope  was  dissipated  by 
the  attack  on  Fort  Sumpter.  From  that  time  until 
the  fall  of  Richmond  and  Atlanta,  war  with  its 
scenes  of  carnage  and  disaster  raged  between  the 
two  sections. 

Such  conditions  could  not  fail  to  affect  pro- 
foundly the  religious  life  of  the  nation.  In  some 
communities  every  male  church  member  capable  of 
bearing  arms  was  at  the  front  fighting  for  his 
country.  Many  who  were  thus  called  away  perished 
in  battle,  while  others  became  demoralized  through 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.    241 

the  deleterious  influences  of  camp  and  army  life,  and 
were  lost  to  the  churches.  The  war  was  the  topic  of 
the  day,  the  theme  of  conversation,  and  its  items 
filled  the  columns  of  the  public  press.  Stirring  news 
of  battle  and  tidings  from  the  front  absorbed  the 
attention  of  the  people.  But  the  excitements  of  the 
time  did  not  cause  any  appreciable  decline  in  the  life 
of  the  churches.  Multitudes  of  church  records 
throughout  the  Northern  States  testify  to  the  fact 
that  there  was  not  only  no  diminution  in  religious 
interest,  but  that  on  the  contrary  church  and  Sunday 
School  attendance  greatly  increased.  Where  able- 
bodied  men  had  gone  to  the  front,  the  aged,  the 
women,  and  the  children  filled  their  places  and  main- 
tained the  work  of  the  church  with  unflagging 
energy  and  undiminished  zeal. 

Not  only  were  the  churches  at  home  well  cared 
for,  but  earnest  efforts  were  put  forth  for  the 
religious  welfare  of  those  who  were  at  the  front, 
endangered  not  only  by  the  perils  of  war,  but  by 
the  temptation  to  immorality,  laxity,  intemperance 
and  vice,  more  or  less  incident  to  army  life.  Among 
the  important  agencies  for  this  purpose  was  the 
Christian  Commission,  formed  in  New  York  City, 
November  14,  1861,  at  the  call  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  The  work  of  this  Commis- 
sion has  been  summed  up  as  follows :  ''From 
November,    1861,  to  May,   1866,  this  Commission 


242  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

disbursed,  both  for  the  benefit  of  the  patriot  soldiers 
of  the  Union  and  for  the  Confederate  wounded  that 
fell  into  our  hands,  the  sum  of  $6,291,107.  We  em- 
ployed 4,859  agents,  working  without  recompense, 
an  aggregate  of  185,652  days.  These  agents  held 
136,650  religious  services  and  wrote  92,321  letters 
for  the  soldiers.  They  gave  away  1,466,748  Bibles 
(in  whole  or  in  part),  1,370,953  hymn-books, 
8,603,434  books  or  pamphlets,  18,189,863  newspa- 
pers and  magazines,  and  30,368,998  pages  of  relig- 
ious tracts.  They  also  greatly  assisted  in  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  which  expended 
in  the  same  time  $4,924,048,  making  an  aggregate, 
by  the  two,  of  $11,215,155,  poured  out  as  a  free-will 
offering  by  a  grateful  country  for  the  moral  and 
physical  welfare  of  its  brave  defenders/'* 

In  religious  zeal  the  South  was  not  one  whit 
behind  the  North.  In  July,  1861,  the  Evangelical 
Tract  Society,  corresponding  to  the  American  Tract 
Society,  was  organized  at  Petersburg,  Va.  It  pub- 
lished a  religious  paper  for  soldiers,  and  put  into 
circulation  during  the  war  50,000,000  pages  of 
tracts.  The  various  denominational  publishing 
houses,  private  individuals,  and  the  Bible  Society  of 
the  Confederate  States,  formed  in  March,  1862, 
engaged  in  the  work  of  circulating  tracts,  religious 
papers,  Bibles,  etc.    There  is  no  means  of  obtaining 

*  Dorchester's  Christianity  in  the  U.  S.,  p.  688. 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.    243 

accurate  statistics  of  this  work,  but  thousands  of 
dollars  were  expended,  and  millions  of  pages  of 
religious  literature  were  put  into  circulation.  Mis- 
sionaries and  colporters  were  employed  to  assist  the 
chaplains  in  ministering  to  the  religious  needs  of 
the  soldiers. 

By  the  use  of  such  means  and  the  co-operation  of 
praying  officers  a  revival  commenced,  which  became 
so  extensive  and  powerful  as  to  be  termed  the 
"Great  Revival  in  the  Southern  Armies." 

The  battle-field  and  camp  may  seem  a  strange 
place  for  a  revival  of  religion.  Instances  there  are 
on  record  of  a  praying  soldiery.  Many  eminent 
commanders,  like  Washington,  Wellington,  Have- 
lock  and  others,  have  been  devout  and  earnest 
Christians.  Cromwell's  "Old  Ironsides"  who  went 
into  battle  praying  and  chanting  Psalms  are  often 
referred  to.  But  a  revival  in  an  army  actually  en- 
gaged in  deadly  warfare  was  an  occurrence  hitherto 
unknown  in  history.  The  influences  of  the  camp  are 
not  favorable  to  the  cultivation  of  the  virtues  and 
graces  of  religion.  There  is  little  disposition  to  pro- 
mote meekness,  humility,  faith,  and  love,  which  con- 
stitute the  chief  elements  of  the  Christian  faith.  The 
tendency  is  in  the  opposite  direction.  Young  men 
entering  the  army  are  withdrawn  from  the  restraints 
of  home,  the  presence  of  praying  parents,  the  influ- 
ences of  church  and  Christian  society,  and  are  sub- 


244  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

jected  to  the  temptation  of  a  thousand  vices. 
Gambling,  drunkenness,  lewdness,  profanity,  and  a 
spirit  of  recklessness  are  the  besetting  sins  of  army 
life.  The  dangers  incident  to  warfare  and  the  car- 
nage of  battle,  instead  of  being  aids  to  sober  reflec- 
tion, often  promote  an  indifference  to  religion  and 
a  spirit  of  recklessness  respecting  this  present  world 
and  that  which  is  to  come.  Religion,  soldiers  often 
admit,  may  be  adapted  to  the  pursuits  of  peace,  but 
not  to  the  murderous  arts  of  war,  and  so  the  drift  is 
towards  godlessness  and  irreligion. 

In  spite  of  these  unpromising  conditions  a  revival 
of  unusual  power  broke  out,  and  extended  from  post 
to  post,  and  from  camp  to  camp,  until  there  was 
scarcely  a  regiment  or  company  in  the  Southern 
Army  which  was  not  affected  by  its  gracious  influ- 
ences. The  first  tokens  of  this  work  appeared  in  the 
autumn  of  1861  in  the  armies  encamped  about  Rich- 
mond. The  scenes  of  battle  often  served  as  impres- 
sive lessons  and  from  the  hospitals  there  came  ex- 
pressions of  deepening  interest  on  the  part  of  those 
who  had  been  wounded.  From  the  hospital  the 
revival  spirit  was  carried  back  to  the  camp  and  each 
new  convert  became  an  evangel  to  bear  the  gospel 
tidings  to  others.  The  story  is  told  of  one  who  had 
been  converted  in  the  hospital  and  on  his  return  he 
invited  any  who  might  be  interested  to  join  him  in 
a  prayer  meeting.    Five  were  present,  and  from  that 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.    245 

little  gathering  a  work  was  inaugurated  which 
resulted  in  more  than  a  hundred  conversions. 

As  the  revival  extended  from  company  to  com- 
pany, from  regiment  to  regiment,  from  brigade  to 
brigade,  and  from  camp  to  camp,  it  increased  in 
intensity  and  power.  After  Lee's  invasion  of  Mary- 
land and  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg,  there  was  a  mani- 
fest increase  in  the  religious  interest  of  his  army, 
occasioned  no  doubt  to  some  extent  by  a  sense  of  the 
perils  which  they  had  so  narrowly  escaped. 

The  first  glimpses  of  the  revival  in  the  West  were 
seen  in  the  year  1863,  m  tne  army  of  the  Tennessee, 
where  a  work  was  inaugurated,  during  the  progress 
of  which  some  thousands  were  converted.  By  mid- 
summer the  awakening  had  become  general 
throughout  the  Confederate  armies.  At  Freder- 
icksburg and  in  the  armies  encamped  in  its  vicinity 
there  were  gracious  quickenings.  Even  the  troops 
in  beleaguered  Vicksburg  were  visited  with  seasons 
of  converting  grace. 

Christian  Associations  and  Associations  of  Chap- 
lains were  organized  in  various  parts  of  the  field  to 
promote  the  religious  interests  of  the  soldiers.  Such 
organizations  were  of  great  value  in  furthering  the 
revival.  But  the  crying  need  of  the  hour  was  more 
workers.  "Truly  the  harvests  were  plenteous  but 
the  laborers  were  few."  The  bishops  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South,  issued  an  appeal  to 


246  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

their  churches  for  men  and  means  to  carry  forward 
this  work.  The  response  to  this  and  similar  appeals 
was  prompt  and  hearty.  The  missionary  boards  of 
the  various  churches  were  enabled  to  employ  mis- 
sionaries and  colporters  to  assist  the  regimental 
chaplains  in  the  work  of  evangelization.  Sermons 
were  preached,  tracts  were  distributed,  inquiry 
meetings  were  held,  and  the  soldiers  were  dealt  with 
personally  in  regard  to  their  spiritual  welfare.  To 
this  work  the  Presbyterians  sent  fifty-three  mission- 
aries, the  Baptists  about  sixty,  and  the  Southern 
Methodists  a  score  or  more. 

So  general  did  the  revival  become  that  there  was 
scarcely  a  position  in  which  the  soldiers  might  be 
placed  where  its  spirit  was  not  felt.  In  the  camp, 
on  the  march,  and  on  field  of  battle,  tokens  of  con- 
verting grace  appeared.  The  entire  atmosphere  of 
the  army  was  greatly  changed.  In  place  of  the 
oaths,  coarse  jests,  and  impure  songs,  so  common  to 
the  camp,  prayers  and  praises  and  songs  of  Zion 
were  heard. 

The  Richmond  Christian  Advocate  in  describing 
the  work  said :  "Not  for  years  has  such  a  revival 
prevailed  in  the  Confederate  States.  Its  records 
gladden  the  columns  of  every  religious  journal.  Its 
progress  in  the  army  is  a  spectacle  of  moral 
sublimity  over  which  men  and  angels  can  rejoice. 
Such   camp   meetings  were   never   before   seen   in 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.    247 

America.  The  bivouac  of  the  soldier  never  wit- 
nessed such  nights  of  glory  and  days  of  splendor. 
The  Pentecostal  fire  lights  the  camp,  and  hosts  of 
armed  men  sleep  beneath  the  wings  of  angels  rejoic- 
ing over  many  sinners  that  have  repented." 

The  revival  eventually  extended  to  the  remote 
Southwest,  to  the  armies  encamped  in  Arkansas.  It 
was  in  this  section  of  the  field  that  Army  Churches 
were  established  by  Rev.  Enoch  Marvin,  who  after- 
wards became  a  bishop  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South. 

The  plan  and  purpose  of  such  churches  is  learned 
from  the  following: 
Articles  of  Faith  and  Constitution  of  the 

Church  of  the  Army,  Trans-Mississippi. 

The  Christian  men  of  the  army,  believing  that  the 
habitation  of  God  by  his  Spirit  constitutes  the 
Church,  agree,  for  the  edification  and  conversion  of 
their  fellow-men,  to  organize  the  Church  of  the 
Army,  with  the  following  articles  of  faith  and  con- 
stitution : 

I.  We  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  the  only  rule  of 
faith  and  obedience. 

II.  We  believe  in  God,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost;  the  same  in  substance;  equal  in 
power  and  glory. 

III.  We  believe  in  the  fall  of  Adam,  the  redemp- 
tion by  Christ,  and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


248  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

IV.  We  believe  in  justification  by  faith  alone,  and 
therefore  receive  and  rest  upon  Christ  as  our  only 
hope. 

V.  We  believe  in  the  communion  of  saints,  and  in 
the  doctrine  of  eternal  rewards  and  punishments. 

The  Christian  men  who  have  been  baptized, 
adopting  these  articles  of  faith  and  constitution,  in 
each  regiment  shall  constitute  one  church ;  who  shall 
choose  ten  officers  to  take  spiritual  oversight  of  the 
same. 

Of  the  officers  so  elected  the  chaplain,  or  one 
chosen  by  them  for  that  purpose,  shall  act  as  mod- 
erator. 

The  officers  will  meet  once  a  month,  and  oftener 
if  necessary;  and  in  the  exercise  of  discipline  will 
be  guided  by  the  direction  of  Christ.  They  will  keep 
a  record  of  the  names  of  all  the  members  and  the 
manner  in  which  their  ecclesiastical  connection  with 
this  church  is  dissolved. 

The  institution  of  these  army  churches  proved  a 
source  of  great  good.  A  Methodist  presiding  elder, 
who  was  an  associate  chaplain,  in  writing  of  their 
value  said :  "Soon  after  the  organization  of  these 
army  churches  in  the  various  regiments,  we  were 
visited  by  a  gracious  revival,  in  which  hundreds 
were  converted  and  gathered  into  these  army 
churches.  My  position  as  presiding  elder  on  two 
large  districts  since  the  war  has   given  me   large 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.    249 

opportunity  to  compare  the  results  of  the  work  in 
this  organization.  My  conviction  is  that  a  much 
larger  percentage  of  the  converts  in  these  army 
churches  have  remained  faithful  than  is  usual  in 
ordinary  revival  meetings."* 

By  January,  1865,  it  was  estimated  that  150,000 
soldiers  in  the  Southern  Army  had  been  converted 
during  the  progress  of  the  war.  At  this  time  it  was 
believed  that  more  than  one  third  of  all  the  soldiers, 
both  officers  and  privates  in  the  Confederate  armies, 
were  praying  men.  In  times  of  peace  this  revival 
would  have  been  accounted  an  extraordinary  work 
of  grace.  The  occasion,  the  circumstances,  the 
events,  combine  to  make  it  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able religious  awakenings  in  the  history  of  American 
Christianity.  The  subjects  of  the  work  were  men, 
soldiers  under  arms,  engaged  in  one  of  the  most 
deadly  and  calamitous  wars  of  all  history.  Under 
ordinary  circumstances  the  camp  and  battle-field 
would  have  been  considered  the  most  unfavorable 
conditions  for  a  revival  of  religion,  but  in  this 
revival  the  very  influences  which  otherwise  would 
detract  seemed  to  be  used  by  Providence  for  the 
promotion  of  this  truly  wonderful  work  of  grace. 

The  surrender  of  Lee  at  Appomattox,  and  Johns- 
ton at  Greensboro,  put  an  end  to  the  war  and  also  to 
the  Confederate  Republic. 

♦Bennett's  Great  Revival  in  the  Southern  Armies,  p.  378. 


250  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

As  the  Great  Revival  of  1857  had  prepared  the 
Northern  States  for  this  struggle  which  convulsed 
the  nation  and  threatened  its  overthrow,  so  too  we 
may  look  upon  the  revival  in  the  Southern  armies  as 
a  providential  preparation  for  the  defeat  which  over- 
whelmed them.     The  South  had  staked  its  all  and 
had  lost.     Plantations  were  laid  waste,  homes  were 
broken  up,  educational  institutions  had  been  sus- 
pended, their  buildings  destroyed  and  their  endow- 
ments swept  away,  churches  had  been  desecrated  and 
their  services  discontinued,  fortunes  had  vanished,  in 
fact  the  ruin  and  desolation  of  the  South  seemed  com- 
plete.   It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  the  South  could 
have  borne  up  under  the  dire  calamities  which  had 
visited  it  had  it  not  been  for  the  influence  of  this 
revival,  since  men  never  stand  so  much  in  need  of 
the  consolation  and  sustaining  power  of  religion  as 
in  the  dark  hours  of  adversity.    Were  it  not  for  the 
hope  which  faith  inspires  they  would  be  plunged 
into  the  abyss  of  despair.    But  reconstruction  came 
and  from  the  ashes  of  the  old  a  new  South  has 
arisen  to  fulfill  its  destiny  and  carry  out  its  divinely 
appointed  mission. 

During  the  war  Rev.  A.  B.  Earle,  D.D.,  came 
into  prominence  as  an  evangelist  of  national  reputa- 
tion. He  was  born  at  Charlestown,  N.  Y.,  in  181 2, 
and  commenced  preaching  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
continuing  in  the  active  ministry  almost  to  the  time 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.    251 

of  his  death  in  1897.  After  a  brief  experience  in  the 
pastorate  he  entered  the  evangelistic  field.  Although 
he  was  a  Baptist  by  choice  he  labored  chiefly  in 
union  revival  services.  During  the  war  he  con- 
ducted successful  revivals  in  Boston,  Fall  River,  and 
Springfield,  Mass. ;  Concord,  N.  H. ;  Biddeford  and 
Saco,  Me. ;  New  Haven,  Conn. ;  Washington,  D.  C, 
and  at  various  other  places  in  New  England  and  the 
East. 

The  winter  of  1866- 1867  was  spent  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  where  it  was  estimated  that  five  thousand  per- 
sons were  converted  under  his  labors.  From  the 
various  cities  visited,  expressions  came  of  the  great 
good  which  had  been  accomplished  and  the  marked 
changes  wrought  in  the  morals  and  habits  of  the  peo- 
ple through  these  revivals. 

In  his  use  of  methods  Dr.  Earle  was  eminently 
judicious.  His  preaching  was  directed  to  the  intel- 
lect and  will,  rather  than  to  the  emotional  elements 
of  man's  nature.  As  a  consequence  his  labors  were 
seldom  if  ever  followed  by  any  unfavorable  reaction, 
which  is  so  often  the  case  with  perfervid  revivalists. 
He  insisted  upon  the  prayer  of  faith  as  the  indispen- 
sable condition  to  a  revival.  During  his  earlier  labors 
he  employed  the  "anxious  seat,"  but  afterwards  used 
the  "inquiry  meeting,"  in  dealing  with  seekers.  Dur- 
ing his  long  career  as  an  evangelist  Dr.  Earle  wit- 
nessed the  conversion  of  more  than  1 50,000  persons. 


252  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

During  the  war  Rev.  E.  Payson  Hammond,  D.D., 
also  attained  to  prominence  in  the  evangelistic  field. 
After  his  graduation  from  Williams  College  in 
1858,  and  a  partial  course  of  study  at  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  he  went  abroad  and  for  a  time 
prosecuted  his  studies  at  Edinburgh.  In  connection 
with  his  student  life  he  supplied  a  church  at  Mussel- 
burgh, where  a  revival  of  considerable  power  at- 
tended his  labors,  as  a  consequence  of  which  his 
services  were  called  into  requisition  in  various  por- 
tions of  England  and  Scotland. 

In  1 86 1  Mr.  Hammond  returned  to  America  and 
while  the  war  was  in  progress  conducted  notable 
revivals  in  various  cities  throughout  the  Northern 
States.  In  each  of  the  following  cities — Rochester, 
Newark,  Chicago,  Detroit  and  Philadelphia — there 
were  more  than  a  thousand  conversions.  Often  the 
interest  was  so  great  as  to  overshadow  the  news  of 
war.  Mr.  Hammond  was  ordained  as  an  evangelist 
by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  in  January,  1863. 

Since  the  war  Dr.  Hammond  has  prosecuted  his 
evangelistic  labors  with  untiring  energy.  Besides 
several  trips  abroad,  he  has  visited  nearly  every 
important  city  in  the  Union,  preaching  the  gospel 
with  the  fervor  of  an  apostle  and  winning  multitudes 
to  Christ.  He  has  been  especially  successful  in 
reaching  children  and  has  written  several  small  vol- 
umes on  the  subject. 


THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.    253 

In  the  North  and  South  alike  the  war  had  drawn 
the  different  churches  closer  together.  Since  the 
war  the  trend  has  continued  towards  Christian 
unity,  not  organic  unity,  to  be  sure,  but  that  mutual 
fellowship  and  mutual  toleration  of  differences 
which  makes  possible  great  Christian  enterprises 
and  causes  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  to  draw  nigh 
apace. 

The  return  to  peace  was  accompanied  by  evils  of 
no  small  magnitude.  Immorality,  luxury,  extrava- 
gance, speculation,  intemperance,  and  crime  became 
so  frequent  and  so  violent  that  the  periodicals  of 
the  day  referred  to  these  conditions  as  the  Carnival 
of  Crime.  But  with  the  readjustments  which  fol- 
lowed the  return  to  peace,  a  new  era  was  inaugu- 
rated, which  has  been  characterized  by  Christian 
activity,  church  extension,  and  revivals  of  great 
depth  and  power  in  which  the  laity  have  borne  no 
inconspicuous  part. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN   REVIVALS. 

The  lay  movement  in  revivals,  which  swept  over 
this  country  during  the  years  1875- 1877  and  the 
influence  of  which  continues  to  the  present  day,  was 
the  logical  consequence  of  the  dawning  conscious- 
ness of  the  importance  of  lay  work,  which  had  found 
expression  in  the  Great  Revival  of  1857,  in  the 
growth  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
and  in  the  work  of  the  Christian  and  Sanitary  Com- 
missions during  the  Civil  War.  The  manner  of  car- 
rying on  the  Revival  of  1857  was  characterized  as 
the  "mass-meeting  method  of  evangelization."  In 
the  lay  movement  of  1875-1877  the  "mass-meeting 
methods"  were  abandoned  and  in  their  place  was 
substituted  the  most  thorough  organization  of  all 
the  activities  which  would  make  possible  the  con- 
version of  men.  Methods  were  also  adopted  to 
gather  the  fruits  of  these  revivals  and  give  perma- 
nency to  the  results  accomplished. 

Identified  with  this  movement  as  its  chief  repre- 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     255 

sentative  and  prime  mover  stands  the  name  of  D.  L. 
Moody.  Reared  in  the  midst  of  the  most  unfavor- 
able circumstances,  rising  from  obscurity,  and  pos- 
sessed of  few  advantages  for  self-improvement  he 
rose  to  a  position  of  commanding  influence  through- 
out the  Christian  world.  So  closely  has  he  been 
identified  with  the  movement  under  considera- 
tion that  no  characterization  of  it  would  be 
complete  without  a  comprehensive  survey  of  his 
life. 

Dwight  Lyman  Moody  was  born  at  Northfield, 
Mass.,  February  5,  1837.  When  the  future  evangel- 
ist was  but  four  years  of  age,  his  father,  who  had 
combined  the  trade  of  masonry  with  that  of  brick- 
making,  suddenly  passed  away.  His  financial 
affairs  were  in  such  a  condition  that  the  creditors 
took  even  the  kindling  from  the  shed.  To  add  to 
the  embarrassments  of  the  household,  a  month  after 
his  decease,  twins  were  born,  increasing  the  children 
of  the  family  to  nine,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  but 
thirteen  years  of  age.  Many  a  woman  would  have 
sunk  beneath  a  burden  so  heavy,  but  Mrs.  Moody 
bore  up  as  best  she  could  and  sought  to  train  her 
children  in  the  fear  of  God.  She  was  a  Unitarian, 
and  the  only  baptism  which  Dwight  ever  received 
was  at  the  hands  of  the  Unitarian  minister  of  the 
parish,  Rev.  Mr.  Everett,  who  was  very  kind 
towards    this    fatherless    family,    and    for    a    time 


256  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

Dwight  was  in  his  home,  where  he  did  the  chores 
for  his  board. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen,  young  Moody,  wearied 
with  the  dull  routine  of  such  work  as  could  be  found 
in  the  neighborhood  of  a  country  village,  set  out  for 
Boston  in  search  of  employment.  In  the  city  he  had 
two  uncles  who  were  engaged  in  the  boot  and  shoe 
business,  but  fearing  the  conceit  and  headstrongness 
of  the  country  youth,  they  gave  him  no  encourage- 
ment. After  days  of  fruitless  search  and  somewhat 
humbled  by  his  experiences,  he  again  applied  to  his 
uncles  for  employment.  It  was  given  on  condition 
that  he  should  be  guided  by  their  advice  and  should 
attend  church  and  Sabbath  School  every  Sunday. 
He  soon  proved  a  valuable  assistant  in  their  busi- 
ness, and  within  a  short  time  was  selling  more  goods 
than  any  other  clerk  in  the  establishment.  His  re- 
ligious ventures  were  not  so  promising.  He  attended 
the  Mount  Vernon  Congregational  Church,  in  which 
the  revival  fires,  under  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Kirk, 
were  ever  glowing.  As  bracing  as  the  spiritual 
atmosphere  was,  the  discourses  to  which  he  listened 
were  quite  above  the  limited  attainments  of  young 
Moody,  and  he  often  fell  asleep  in  his  fruitless 
efforts  to  follow  the  sermon.  His  experience  in  the 
Sunday  School  was  not  a  little  discouraging.  He 
was  placed  in  the  class  of  Edward  Kimball.  The 
lesson  was  in  the  Gospel   of  John.      A   Bible  was 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     257 

given  him,  and  to  the  no  small  amusement  of  the 
other  members  of  the  class,  he  hunted  the  Old  Testa- 
ment through  for  the  book  of  John.  The  teacher  see- 
ing his  embarrassment,  found  the  place  for  him. 
Moody  said :  "I  put  my  thumb  in  the  place  and 
held  on;  I  said  then  if  ever  I  got  out  of  that 
scrape,  I  would  not  be  caught  there  again."  Mr. 
Kimball  succeeded  in  holding  the  lad's  attention 
and  later  became  instrumental  in  his  conver- 
sion. 

Mr.  Moody  told  the  story  of  this  spiritual  change 
as  follows :  "When  I  was  in  Boston  I  used  to  attend 
a  Sunday  School  class,  and  one  day  I  recollect  my 
teacher  came  around  behind  the  counter  of  the  shop 
I  was  at  work  in,  and  put  his  hand  on  my  shoulder, 
and  talked  to  me  about  Christ  and  my  soul.  I  had 
not  felt  that  I  had  a  soul  till  then.  I  said  to  myself : 
'This  is  a  very  strange  thing.  Here  is  a  man  who 
never  saw  me  till  lately,  and  he  is  weeping  over  my 
sins,  and  I  never  shed  a  tear  about  them.'  But  I 
understand  about  it  now,  and  know  what  it  is  to 
have  a  passion  for  men's  souls  and  weep  over  their 
sins.  I  don't  remember  what  he  said,  but  I  can  feel 
the  power  of  that  man's  hand  on  my  shoulder  to- 
night. It  was  not  long  after  that  I  was  brought 
into  the  kingdom  of  God." 

Soon  after  his  conversion  he  applied  for  member- 
ship at  the  Mount  Vernon  Church.     In  accordance 


258  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

with  the  usages  of  that  day  no  person  could  be 
received  into  a  Congregational  Church  without  first 
giving  credible  evidence  of  conversion.  Moody's  ex- 
amination did  not  satisfy  the  committee.  The  prin- 
cipal question  asked  was,  "What  has  Christ  done 
for  you,  and  for  us  all,  that  especially  entitles  him 
to  our  love  and  obedience?"  He  replied:  "I  think 
he  has  done  a  great  deal  for  us  all,  but  I  don't  know 
of  anything  he  has  done  in  particular."  The  com- 
mittee deferred  recommending  him  to  membership, 
and  three  persons  were  appointed  to  instruct  him 
further  in  the  way  of  salvation.  This  action  has 
often  been  criticised,  but  to  Mr.  Moody's  credit  be 
it  said,  he  always  approved  the  course  taken  by  the 
church.  Ten  months  later  he  was  admitted  to  mem- 
bership. 

In  September,  1856,  Mr.  Moody  bade  farewell  to 
Boston  and  took  his  departure  for  Chicago,  which 
at  that  time  was  a  young,  but  rapidly  growing  city, 
and  afforded  well-nigh  limitless  opportunities  for 
Christian  work.  Moody  had  no  difficulty  in  secur- 
ing a  position  in  the  boot  and  shoe  business,  into 
which  he  entered  with  the  same  zest  which  had 
characterized  hiri  at  Boston.  He  carried  a  letter  to 
the  Plymouth  Congregational  Church,  with  the 
interests  of  which  he  at  once  identified  himself.  He 
hired  four  pews,  which  he  filled  every  Sabbath  with 
young  men  whom  he  had  invited  to  the  services.    He 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     259 

also  joined  a  Young  Men's  Mission  Band  at  the 
First  M.  E.  Church,  the  object  of  which  was  the 
distribution  of  tracts  at  hotels  and  boarding  places 
on  Sunday  mornings,  and  also  the  inviting  of  the 
guests  to  attend  divine  worship. 

Even  these  activities  did  not  satisfy  his  tireless 
energy,  and  he  soon  sought  a  class  to  teach  at  a 
Mission  School  on  Wells  Street  and  Chicago  Ave- 
nue. The  superintendent  told  him  that  they  already 
had  twelve  teachers  and  only  sixteen  pupils,  but  if 
he  would  gather  a  class  of  his  own,  he  might  have 
the  privilege  of  teaching  it.  The  next  Sunday 
Moody  appeared  with  eighteen  of  the  raggedest, 
dirtiest  street  Arabs  to  be  found  in  the  city.  He  next 
directed  his  attention  to  "drumming  up"  recruits  for 
the  school,  with  the  result  that  it  was  soon  filled  to 
overflowing.  In  a  short  time  he  started  a  mission 
of  his  own  in  North  Chicago,  an  abandoned  saloon 
building  being  used  for  the  purpose.  The  school 
soon  outgrew  its  limited  quarters,  and  Moody  ap- 
plied to  the  mayor  for  the  use  of  North  Market  Hall 
for  Sabbath  School  work.  Frequently  the  hall  was 
used  Saturday  nights  for  balls,  which  necessitated 
considerable  work  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Moody  and 
his  helpers  Sunday  forenoons  in  order  to  get  the 
building  in  readiness  for  the  afternoon  session.  The 
school  grew  and  prospered,  numbering  in  a  short 
time  hundreds  of  pupils.     The  average  attendance 


260  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

soon  reached  over  six  hundred,  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  whom  more  than  sixty  teachers  were  em- 
ployed. 

The  Great  Revival  of  1857  resulted  in  the  forma> 
tion  of  the  Chicago  branch  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  Noon  prayer  meetings  were 
instituted  early  in  January,  1858.  Eventually  these 
meetings,  which  had  greatly  decreased  in  attendance, 
were  placed  in  charge  of  the  Association.  Finally 
the  example  of  a  determined  old  Scotchman,  who, 
one  day  when  he  was  the  only  attendant,  went 
through  the  exercise  of  hymn,  Scripture  reading  and 
prayer,  incited  Mr.  Moody  to  action,  and  by  personal 
effort  he  induced  more  than  a  hundred  to  join  the 
praying  band. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  continued  in  the  boot  and 
shoe  business.  He  was  ambitious  to  become  a  rich 
man  and  have  $100,000,  which  was  then  considered 
enough  to  make  one  independent.  But  in  i860  he 
decided  to  give  up  his  business  and  devote  all  of  his 
time  to  Christian  work.  When  asked  by  his  em- 
ployer how  he  expected  to  live,  he  replied :  "God  will 
provide  for  me  if  he  wishes  me  to  keep  on;  and  I 
shall  keep  on  until  I  am  obliged  to  stop."  Mr. 
Moody  reduced  his  expenses  to  a  minimum,  by  giv- 
ing up  his  home  and  sleeping  on  a  bench  in  a  room 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  Friends 
were  raised  up  who  contributed  funds  to  meet  his 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     261 

necessities,  and  later  he  was  appointed  city  mission- 
ary, so  that  he  was  relieved  from  pecuniary  embar- 
rassment. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Civil  War  the  Illi- 
nois volunteers  were  mobilized  at  Camp  Douglass, 
five  miles  from  Chicago.  At  that  time  Moody  was 
chairman  of  the  devotional  committee  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  Ever  on  the  alert  to 
seize  an  opportunity  for  Christian  work,  with  a  few 
others  he  engaged  in  active  efforts  to  reach  the  sol- 
diers who  were  preparing  to  go  to  the  front.  Army 
hymn-books,  Testaments,  tracts,  and  religious  lit- 
erature in  large  quantities  were  circulated  among  the 
soldiers.  Devotional  and  evangelistic  meetings 
were  started,  and  so  encouraging  was  the  work  that 
the  committee  issued  a  call  for  helpers.  One  hun- 
dred and  fifty  workers,  both  clerical  and  lay,  re- 
sponded. Eight  to  ten  meetings  were  conducted 
each  evening  and  to  meet  the  growing  demands  of 
this  work  a  camp  chapel  was  erected.  Many  through 
these  efforts  were  converted.  When  the  Christian 
Commission  was  organized,  Mr.  Moody  became  a 
member  of  the  Western  Branch  at  Chicago.  In  the 
interests  of  this  work  he  often  went  to  the  front  to 
minister  to  the  wounded,  to  pray  with  the  dying,  and 
to  preach  salvation  to  soldiers  on  duty  in  the  service 
of  their  country. 

After  the  capture  of  Fort  Donelson,  Camp  Doug- 


262  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

lass  was  used  as  a  prison  for  Confederates,  ten 
thousand  of  whom  were  kept  within  its  con- 
fines. Eager  for  the  salvation  of  men,  Mr. 
Moody  conducted  evangelistic  services  for  sev- 
eral weeks  among  these  captives.  Many  were  con- 
verted, there  being  sometimes  thirty  and  forty  seek- 
ers in  a  single  night.  A  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  was  organized,  the  services 
of  which  were  continued  until  the  parole  of 
the  prisoners. 

Mr.  Moody  was  on  the  field  to  minister  to  the 
wounded  after  the  battles  of  Fort  Donelson,  Pitts- 
burgh Landing,  Shiloh  and  Murfreesboro.  He  was 
also  with  the  army  at  Cleveland  in  East  Tennessee, 
at  Chattanooga,  and  was  among  the  first  to  enter 
Richmond  with  General  Grant.  These  army  expe- 
riences were  an  invaluable  training  for  his  future 
work  and  served  to  bring  out  the  qualities  of  direct- 
ness, promptness  in  meeting  emergencies,  and  a 
skill  in  organization  which  characterized  him  in  his 
subsequent  labors. 

Of  his  work  in  those  days  General  O.  O.  Howard 
said  :  "Moody  and  I  met  for  the  first  time  in  Cleve- 
land, East  Tennessee.  It  was  about  the  middle  of 
April,  1864.  I  was  bringing  together  my  Fourth 
Army  Corps.  Two  divisions  had  already  arrived, 
and  were  encamped  in  and  near  the  village.  Moody 
was  then  fresh  and  hearty,  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     263 

Master's  work.  Our  soldiers  were  just  about  to  set 
out  on  what  we  all  felt  promised  to  be  a  hard  and 
bloody  campaign  and  I  think  were  especially  desirous 
of  strong  preaching.  Crowds  turned  out  to  hear  the 
glad  tidings  from  Moody's  lips.  He  showed  how  a 
soldier  would  give  his  heart  to  God.  His  preaching 
was  direct  and  effective,  and  multitudes  responded 
with  a  confession  and  promise  to  follow 
Christ." 

In  the  meantime  he  had  gone  right  on  with  his 
work  in  Chicago.  His  Sunday  School  in  North 
Market  Hall  kept  increasing,  until  its  attendance 
averaged  more  than  one  thousand.  One  of  the  prob- 
lems which  confronted  him  about  this  time  was  the 
care  of  those  who  had  been  converted  in  his  mission 
services.  He  advised  them  to  unite  with  existing 
churches,  but  coming  as  they  did  from  humble 
homes,  they  felt  strangely  out  of  place  in  the  more 
stately  church  edifices.  They  had,  moreover,  the 
warmest  attachment  for  the  man  who  had  been  in- 
strumental in  their  conversion.  Necessity,  therefore, 
was  upon  him  to  make  some  provision  for  their 
spiritual  care.  The  Illinois  Street  Church  was  the 
logical  consequences.  Its  first  building,  erected  at  a 
cost  of  $20,000,  was  dedicated  in  1864  and  was  well 
adapted  to  meet  the  needs  of  his  growing  work. 

In  1865,  not  without  some  opposition,  he  was 
elected   president   of   the   Young   Men's    Christian 


264  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

Association.  Under  his  efficient  leadership,  Farwell 
Hall,  the  first  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
building  in  the  world,  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  $159,- 
000,  and  was  dedicated  September  29,  1867.  It  was 
Mr.  Moody's  prayer  that  an  influence  should  go 
forth  from  that  building  which  "should  extend 
through  every  county  in  the  state,  through  every 
state  in  the  Union,  and  finally,  crossing  the  water, 
should  help  bring  the  world  to  God."  Four  months 
later  that  building  was  burned.  Nothing  daunted, 
and  while  the  flames  were  still  at  work,  he  engaged 
in  the  solicitation  of  funds  for  the  erection  of  a  new 
building  which  was  dedicated  in  1869. 

In  June,  1870,  at  the  International  Young  Men's 
Association  convention  held  at  Indianapolis,  Mr. 
Moody  first  met  Ira  David  Sankey.  Sankey  was 
born  at  Edinburgh,  Pa.,  August  28,  1840.  At  an 
early  age  he  united  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  where  his  services  were  called  into  requisi- 
tion in  the  choir  and  Sunday  School.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  to  respond  to  President  Lincoln's  call  for 
75,000  volunteers.  At  the  end  of  his  three  months' 
enlistment  he  returned  to  his  home  at  Newcastle, 
Pa.,  and  it  is  altogether  likely  that  he  would  have 
been  content  to  have  spent  his  life  in  obscurity,  had 
it  not  been  for  that  chance  meeting  with  Mr.  Moody 
at  Indianapolis.  He  had  heard  of  Mr.  Moody's 
activity  in  Sunday  School  and  Young  Men's  Chris- 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     265 

tian  Association  work  and  was  anxious  to  see  him. 
When  it  was  announced  that  he  was  to  lead  a  Sun- 
day morning  meeting  at  6  o'clock,  Sankey  deter- 
mined to  be  present.  The  singing  dragged,  and  at 
the  solicitation  of  a  friend  he  arose  and  sang,  "There 
is  a  Fountain  Filled  with  Blood."  At  the  close  of 
the  service  he  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Moody,  who 
abruptly  asked,  "Where  do  you  live?"  "In  Newcas- 
tle, Pennsylvania/'  "Are  you  married?"  "Yes." 
"How  many  children  have  you?"  "One."  "I  want 
you."  "What  for?"  "To  help  me  in  Chicago."  "I 
cannot  leave  my  business."  "You  must ;  I  have  been 
looking  for  you  the  last  eight  years.  You  must  give 
up  your  business,  and  come  to  Chicago  with  me." 
"I  will  think  of  it ;  I  will  pray  over  it ;  I  will  talk  it 
over  with  my  wife." 

The  decision  which  he  reached  was  favorable  and 
he  commenced  his  labors  with  Mr.  Moody  about  six 
months  before  the  Chicago  fire,  in  which  the  Illinois 
Street  Church  was  consumed.  Two  months  later 
they  resumed  their  labors  in  the  North  Side  Taber- 
nacle, which  had  been  built  to  replace  the  church. 

In  1873  ft  was  decided  to  accept  an  invitation  of 
three  English  gentlemen  to  visit  the  British  Isles. 
Plans  were  made  that  their  families  should  accom- 
pany them,  but  the  very  day  that  they  were  to  set 
out  found  them  without  the  necessary  funds.  How- 
ever, a  man  was  raised  up  for  the  emergency,  and  a 


266  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

few  hours  before  train  time  John  V.  Farwell,  all 
unconscious  of  their  needs,  placed  in  their  hands  a 
check  for  $500.  On  their  arrival  in  England,  they 
found  that  two  of  the  friends  who  had  invited  them 
had  died.  They  accordingly  telegraphed  to  the 
third,  who  was  the  secretary  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  at  York.  He  replied  that 
three  months'  preparation  would  be  necessary  before 
they  could  commence  meetings  there.  Undaunted 
by  this  frigid  reception  they  proceeded  at  once  to 
York,  where  they  commenced  their  labors.  At  the 
first  meeting  but  eight  persons  were  present.  The 
clergy  were  none  too  cordial  and  but  few  of  the 
churches  were  opened  to  them.  Notwithstanding 
these  untoward  conditions  their  efforts  were  re- 
warded with  two  hundred  and  fifty  conversions  in 
about  a  month's  time.  Thence  they  proceeded  to 
Sunderland  and  to  other  cities.  The  tide  of  popular 
favor  kept  rising,  but  it  was  not  until  they  reached 
Edinburgh,  that  their  work  began  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  whole  United  Kingdom.  Here  they 
met  with  a  most  hearty  and  cordial  reception.  Pre- 
paratory meetings  had  paved  the  way  for  their  ar- 
rival and  a  general  expectancy  for  a  revival  seemed 
to  pervade  the  minds  of  the  people.  At  the  opening 
service  two  thousand  persons  were  unable  to  gain 
admittance.  After  a  campaign  of  two  months,  three 
thousand  converts  united  with  the  various  churches 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     267 

of  the  city.  Dundee  and  Glasgow  were  next  visited. 
In  the  latter  city  Dr.  Andrew  Bonar  said  that  seven 
thousand  persons  united  with  the  different  churches 
as  the  fruits  of  the  revival.  After  visiting  other 
places  in  Scotland  they  went  to  Ireland,  where  they 
labored  in  Belfast  and  Dublin,  in  each  of  which  there 
were  over  two  thousand  conversions.  Thence  they 
returned  to  England,  and  after  having  labored  with 
remarkable  results  in  Manchester,  Sheffield,  Bir- 
mingham and  Liverpool,  they  repaired  to  London, 
where  a  four  months'  campaign  had  been  mapped 
out  and  where  efforts  were  to  be  put  forth  to  reach 
every  quarter  of  the  city.  It  was  estimated  that 
2,500,000  people  attended  the  various  services  dur- 
ing this  campaign.  All  classes  of  society  were 
moved  as  never  before,  and  the  converts  were  num- 
bered by  the  thousands.  August  6,  1875,  Messrs. 
Moody  and  Sankey  sailed  from  Liverpool  for  their 
native  country  after  an  absence  of  two  years. 

When  the  evangelists  left  America  they  were 
comparatively  unknown,  but  tidings  of  their  success 
in  Great  Britain  had  reached  the  country  in  various 
ways,  so  that  on  their  return  to  the  United  States 
their  names  were  household  words.  No  sooner  had 
they  reached  New  York  than  they  were  besieged 
from  all  quarters  with  applications  to  conduct 
evangelistic  campaigns.  The  evangelists,  however, 
determined  to  spend  a  season  in  rest  and  recreation 


268  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

before  taking  up  active  work  again.  Mr.  Moody 
repaired  to  his  boyhood  home  at  Northfield,  where 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  the  summer  in  preparation 
for  his  work.  During  the  latter  part  of  his  stay, 
assisted  by  Major  Whittle  and  others,  he  conducted 
services  for  two  weeks  in  the  Congregational  Church 
and  had  the  joy  of  seeing  his  mother  and  a  younger 
brother  converted. 

In  the  meanwhile  he  was  visited  by  representative 
ministers  from  various  parts  of  the  country,  inviting 
him  to  visit  their  fields  of  labor  and  conduct  evangel- 
istic campaigns.  Finally  he  decided  to  commence 
his  first  American  campaign  in  Brooklyn,  and  ser- 
vices were  commenced  October  24,  1875.  The 
Brooklyn  Rink  had  been  secured,  and  five  thousand 
chairs  were  arranged  to  accommodate  the  multi- 
tudes. Dr.  Talmage's  Tabernacle  was  used  for  the 
daily  prayer  meetings  and  a  choir  of  two  hundred 
voices  was  organized  to  assist  Mr.  Sankey  in  the 
service  of  song.  Enormous  crowds  attended  the 
services  and  "overflow"  meetings  were  necessary. 
Two  thousand  converts  were  the  immediate  result 
of  this  campaign. 

From  November  21  to  January  16,  1876,  Moody 
and  Sankey  conducted  a  gigantic  campaign  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  old  Pennsylvania  freight  depot  was 
fitted  up  for  the  services  at  an  expenditure  of 
$40,000.      Sittings    for    10,000   persons    were   ar- 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     269 

ranged  and  a  choir  of  650  Christian  singers  was 
organized  under  the  leadership  of  William  S. 
Fischer.  The  meetings  opened  inauspiciously.  The 
first  day  of  the  services  the  rain  fell  in  torrents,  and 
the  street  cars  on  the  main  thoroughfare  to  the  place 
were  stopped  by  the  burning  of  the  Market  Street 
Bridge  the  night  before.  Notwithstanding  these  un- 
favorable circumstances  there  was  scarcely  a  vacant 
seat  at  the  first  meeting.  An  aggregate  of  900,000 
persons  attended  the  various  services  during  the 
campaign,  and  it  was  estimated  that  4,000  persons 
were  converted.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  campaign 
a  Revival  Convention  was  held  from  January  19  to 
20.  This  was  attended  by  hundreds  of  ministers 
and  laymen  from  the  city  and  adjoining  towns. 
Such  subjects  were  considered  as  evangelistic 
services,  how  to  conduct  prayer  meetings,  inquiry 
meetings,  training  of  converts  and  lay  workers,  how 
to  get  hold  of  non-church  goers,  etc.  These  revival 
conventions,  which  henceforth  were  to  be  a  feature 
of  Mr.  Moody's  work,  were  very  helpful  and  did 
much  to  arouse  churches  and  ministers  to  activity 
along  evangelistic  lines. 

New  York  City  next  claimed  the  attention  of  the 
evangelists,  where  they  labored  for  a  space  of  two 
months  and  a  half.  The  principal  services  were  con- 
ducted in  the  "Hippodrome,"  originally  built  for 
Barnum's  great  show,  but  which  had  been  recon- 


2;o  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

structed  for  the  use  of  the  meetings.  Thousands 
were  in  attendance  at  the  various  services,  and  at  the 
closing-  meeting,  held  exclusively  for  new  converts, 
3,500  were  present. 

The  New  York  Times  said:  "Whatever  philo- 
sophical sceptics  may  say,  the  work  accomplished  by 
Mr.  Moody  in  this  city  for  private  and  public  morals 
will  live.  The  drunken  have  become  sober,  the 
vicious  virtuous,  the  worldly  and  self-seeking  un- 
selfish, the  ignoble  noble,  the  impure  pure,  the  youth 
have  started  with  generous  aims,  the  old  have  been 
stirred  from  grossness.  A  new  hope  has  lifted  up 
hundreds  of  human  beings,  a  new  consolation  has 
come  to  the  sorrowful,  and  a  better  principle  has 
entered  the  sordid  life  of  the  day  through  the  labors 
of  these  plain  men.  Whatever  the  prejudiced  may 
say  against,  the  honest-minded  and  just  will  not 
forget  these  labors  of  love." 

After  the  New  York  campaign,  Mr.  Sankey  re- 
turned to  Newcastle,  Pa.,  for  the  summer,  while  Mr. 
Moody  journeyed  southward,  spending  two  weeks 
in  meetings  with  his  friend,  Major  Whittle,  at 
Augusta,  Ga.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  Chicago  by 
way  of  Nashville,  Louisville,  St.  Louis  and  Kansas 
City,  holding  brief  meetings  in  these  cities,  which 
were  greatly  blessed.  At  Chicago  he  was  present 
at  the  opening  of  his  new  church  building  on  Chica- 
go Avenue,  which  had  just  been  completed  at  a  cost 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     271 

of  $89,000.  In  August  he  journeyed  eastward  to 
visit  his  mother,  preaching  repeatedly  at  Northfield, 
Greenfield  and  Springfield.  In  September  he  con- 
ducted services  at  Brattleboro,  Vt.,  being  assisted  in 
the  service  of  song  by  P.  P.  Bliss. 

In  Chicago,  where  Messrs.  Moody  and  Sankey 
next  labored,  an  immense  wooden  tabernacle  had 
been  erected  at  a  cost  of  $20,000,  affording  seating 
capacity  for  8,000  persons  and  with  standing  room 
for  2,000  more.  The  meetings  were  a  success  from 
the  very  start.  Chicago  received  such  a  Pentecostal 
visitation  as  it  had  never  experienced  before  and  the 
whole  Northwest  felt  the  throbbing  of  a  new 
religious  life. 

Dr.  E.  P.  Goodwin,  writing  of  this  work  in  1894, 
said :  "The  work  was  in  every  way  most  remark- 
able. For  not  less  than  three  or  four  months  that 
building  was  nightly  crowded — and  often  packed  to 
repletion — especially  on  the  Lord's  day.  There  were 
thousands  of  professed  conversions.  Somewhere 
from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand,  as  I  now  recall  them, 
and  a  very  large  proportion  of  them  men,  united 
with  the  various  evangelical  churches.  If  those 
joining  other  churches  stood  as  well  as  the  two 
hundred  joining  my  own  church,  they  gave  good 
evidence  of  being  soundly  converted.  Very  naturally 
there  were  many  reclaimed  drunkards,  and  gamblers, 
and  people  of  depraved  habits,  both  men  and  women. 


2jz  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

These  are  commonly  a  transient  people,  and  not  a 
few  of  them,  I  dare  say — failing  of  hearty  fellow- 
ship with  the  Lord's  people  and  the  help  thus 
received — drifted  away,  and  may  have  gone  back  to 
the  old  life.  Many,  I  know,  still  stand  fast  and 
honor  their  confession." 

January  28,  1877,  found  the  tireless  evangelists 
in  cultured  Boston.  The  evangelical  Christians  of 
the  city  had  long  been  praying  for  a  revival.  The 
work  preparatory  to  the  coming  of  Moody  and 
Sankey  augured  success.  A  huge  brick  tabernacle 
with  a  seating  capacity  for  6,000  persons,  besides 
sittings  for  the  choir  and  rooms  for  inquirers,  was 
constructed.  A  great  chorus  choir  of  2,000  voices 
in  five  sections  was  organized  under  the  leadership 
of  Dr.  Tourjee.  Several  noon  prayer  meetings  were 
held  throughout  the  city  and  a  house-to-house  visita- 
tion was  undertaken  with  more  than  2,000  visitors 
to  insure  success.  The  results  of  the  campaign  were 
highly  satisfactory.  The  evangelical  faith  received 
such  a  hearing  in  Unitarian  Boston  as  it  had  not 
had  for  years.  A  daily  paper,  The  Tabernacle,  was 
published  to  further  the  interests  of  the  revival. 
Not  only  was  Boston  deeply  moved,  but  all  New 
England  felt  the  influence  of  the  new  life  which 
had  quickened  the  chief  city  of  the  old  Bay 
State. 

These  remarkable  revivals  which  had  visited  sue- 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     273 

cessively  Brooklyn,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Chi- 
cago, and  Boston,  caused  a  wave  of  evangelism  to 
sweep  over  the  land  which  resulted  in  the  ingather- 
ing of  vast  multitudes  into  the  church  of  Christ.  In 
the  cities,  in  the  larger  villages,  and  even  in  obscure 
hamlets,  "Union  Gospel  Meetings"  were  instituted 
at  which  the  familiar  Moody  and  Sankey  hymns 
were  sung,  and  methods  were  employed  similar  to 
those  which  had  been  so  signally  blessed  in  the  hands 
of  these  evangelists.  This  work  brought  into  promi- 
nence several  evangelists,  chief  among  whom  were 
Rev.  George  F.  Pentecost  and  Major  D.  \Y.  Whittle 
and  their  yoke-fellows,  G.  C.  Stebbins  and  P.  P. 
Bliss. 

Major  Whittle  was  born  at  Chicopee  Falls,  Mass., 
November  22,  1840.  When  the  war  broke  out  he 
was  employed  in  the  office  of  Fargo  &  Co.'s  Ex- 
press at  Chicago,  where  he  had  been  converted  and 
had  united  with  the  First  Congregational  Church 
under  the  ministry  of  Dr.  W.  W.  Patton.  He  raised 
a  company,  of  which  he  was  chosen  lieutenant,  and 
made  for  himself  a  brilliant  record  in  the  army.  He 
was  wounded  at  Vicksburg,  but  upon  recovery  he  re- 
entered the  service,  receiving  an  appointment  upon 
General  O.  O.  Howard's  staff,  and  was  eventually 
mustered  out  of  the  service  with  the  brevet  rank  of 
major. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  made  business 


274  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

manager  of  the  Elgin  Watch  Company  at  a  salary 
of  $5,000  per  year.  He  had  already  become  promi- 
nent in  Christian  work  as  the  superintendent  of  the 
West  Side  Tabernacle  Sunday  School  in  connection 
with  the  First  Church  of  Chicago.  About  1874, 
through  the  influence  of  Mr.  Moody,  he  was  led  to 
relinquish  his  lucrative  position  and  enter  the 
evangelistic  field. 

Associated  with  him  in  this  work  was  P.  P.  Bliss, 
the  sweet  gospel  singer  and  the  author  of  such  well- 
known  gospel  hymns  as  "Hold  the  Fort,"  "Pull  for 
the  Shore,"  "Let  the  Lower  Lights  be  Burning,"  and 
many  others.  He  was  a  native  of  Rome,  Pa.,  where 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Lucy  J.  Young.  Through 
her  influence  his  latent  musical  powers  were  devel- 
oped, and  through  her  prayers  he  was  led  to  Christ. 
Upon  removing  to  Chicago  in  1864  he  united  with 
the  First  Congregational  Church,  where  he  served 
as  chorister  and  superintendent  of  the  Sunday 
School.  He  was  persuaded  to  accompany  Major 
Whittle  in  his  evangelistic  work,  and  during  1874- 
1876  they  conducted  successful  revivals  in  the  West 
and  South.  They  were  preparing  to  follow  up  Mr. 
Moody's  great  campaign  in  Chicago,  when  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Bliss  went  to  Pennsylvania  to  spend  the  Christ- 
mas holidays.  After  they  had  started  on  their 
return  to  Chicago,  they  telegraphed  to  Major  Whit- 
tle, "We  are  going  home  to-morrow."     But  it  was 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     275 

to  their  heavenly  home  that  they  went,  for  they  were 
aboard  the  ill-fated  train  that  broke  through  the 
bridge  at  Ashtabula,  O.,  falling-  down  an  embank- 
ment of  seventy  feet  and  then  catching  fire.  Their 
tragic  death  was  a  calamity  to  the  cause  of  Christ 
and  a  shock  to  the  whole  nation. 

After  this  sad  disaster  George  C.  Stebbins  and  at 
a  later  time  James  C.  McGranahan  assisted  Major 
Whittle  in  the  service  of  song. 

In  the  prosecution  of  his  evangelistic  labors 
Major  Whittle  visited  nearly  all  of  the  states  in  the 
Union  besides  making  several  trips  to  Great  Britain. 
He  was  very  successful  and  was  quite  as  much  in 
demand  as  Mr.  Moody.  He  was  a  patient  student 
of  the  Bible  and  very  tactful  in  dealing  with  inquir- 
ers. During  the  war  with  Spain  he  entered  enthu- 
siastically into  the  work  for  the  soldiers,  but  under 
the  strain  he  broke  down  and  for  months  suffered 
as  an  invalid  to  pass  on  to  his  reward,  March  4, 
1901. 

Mr.  Moody's  Boston  campaign  was  followed  up 
by  L.  W.  Munhall.  Dr.  Munhall  was  born  at  Zanes- 
ville,  O.,  June  7,  1843.  ^n  eai"ly  hfe  ne  went  to 
Indianapolis,  where  he  was  converted  and  united 
with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  During  the 
Civil  War  he  served  in  the  Union  army,  being  pro- 
moted successively  to  color-sergeant  and  regimental 
adjutant.     At  the  close  of  the  war  he  studied  and 


276  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

practised  dentistry,  but  later  became  an  evangelist 
and  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Harris.  He  labored 
with  Mr.  Moody  for  a  time,  but  has  since  labored 
independently.  He  has  conducted  evangelistic 
services  in  most  of  the  leading  cities  of  the  country. 
In  this  work  he  has  met  with  marked  success,  often 
being  recalled  to  conduct  a  second,  third,  and  even  a 
fourth  series  of  meetings.  Upwards  of  two  hundred 
thousand  persons  have  been  converted  under  his 
ministrations,  in  which  he  has  confined  himself  to  no 
particular  denomination,  but  has  labored  along  the 
line  of  union  revival  services. 

The  impulse  thus  given  to  revivals  by  the  cam- 
paigns of  Moody  and  Sankey  together  with  the 
efforts  of  a  host  of  workers,  both  clerical  and  lay, 
was  of  lasting  benefit  to  the  churches  throughout  the 
country  and  contributed  greatly  to  the  enrichment  of 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  nation. 

The  season  of  1877- 1878  was  spent  by  Moody  and 
Sankey  in  New  England,  Burlington,  Vt.,  Man- 
chester, N.  H.,  Providence,  R.  I.,  Springfield, 
Mass.,  Hartford  and  New  Haven,  Conn.,  being- 
visited.  Thousands  were  converted  and  all  New 
England  felt  the  impulse  of  the  revivals  with  which 
these  cities  had  been  visited. 

One  of  the  most  important  campaigns  yet  under- 
taken was  conducted  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  during 
1 878- 1 879.     Every  evangelical  denomination  in  the 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     277 

city  united  in  the  work.  Noon  prayer  meetings  were 
held  at  the  Maryland  Institute,  and  special  services 
for  men  were  conducted  at  4  P.  M.  in  the  Asso- 
ciate Reformed  Church. 

While  Mr.  Moody  was  conducting  this  great  cam- 
paign in  Baltimore,  Thomas  Harrison,  the  famous 
Methodist  "boy  preacher"  (so-called  because  of  his 
slight  figure  and  youthful  appearance),  labored  at 
Madison  Square  in  the  same  city  and  but  a  few 
blocks  distant.  The  nearness  of  the  meetings,  how- 
ever, did  not  interfere  with  each  other,  and  the 
difference  in  methods  appealed  to  entirely  different 
classes  of  people,  so  that  Baltimore  was  greatly 
blessed  in  this  double  visitation.  Harrison  was  born 
in  Boston  in  1854,  studied  at  Talmage's  Lay  College 
in  Brooklyn,  entered  the  evangelistic  field  about 
1876,  and  has  since  labored  with  marked  success  in 
various  parts  of  the  Union. 

On  May  26,  1879,  Mr.  Moody  preached  his  last 
sermon  in  Baltimore,  after  a  protracted  siege,  which 
lasted  nearly  eight  months  and  during  the  progress 
of  which  multitudes  had  been  converted. 

During  the  season  of  1879- 1880,  the  evangelists 
conducted  a  similar  campaign  in  St.  Louis.  This 
city  was  a  stronghold  of  Romanism  and  presented 
difficulties  of  unusual  magnitude,  but  as  a  result  of 
the  effort,  the  churches  were  revived,  the  city  was 
graciously  quickened,  and  many  were  led  to  believe. 


278  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

The  Pacific  coast  was  visited  in  1 880-1 881,  and 
from  1 881- 1 884  revivals  were  conducted  in  Great 
Britain  with  happy  results.  The  seasons  of  1884- 
1885,  and  1 885- 1 886,  were  spent  in  brief  visits  to 
the  smaller  cities  of  America.  Three  days  were  gen- 
erally spent  in  a  place,  the  services  being  preceded 
and  followed  by  the  efforts  of  other  evangelists  and 
workers.  In  this  way  Mr.  Moody  was  able  to  visit  a 
large  number  of  cities  having  a  population  of  ten 
thousand  and  over  in  various  parts  of  the 
country. 

In  later  years,  in  addition  to  his  widely  extended 
labors  as  an  evangelist,  Mr.  Moody  devoted  a  great 
deal  of  attention  to  his  educational  institutions  and 
the  various  other  enterprises  in  which  he  was  inter- 
ested. 

Of  his  schools,  Northfield  Seminary  was  opened, 
November  3,  1879,  although  the  first  building  was 
not  completed  until  some  months  later.  This  school 
was  designed  to  furnish  a  Christian  education  for 
young  women.  To  afford  similar  advantages  for 
boys  and  young  men,  Mount  Hermon  School  was 
opened  May  4,  1881.  Both  of  these  schools  are 
equipped  with  many  handsome  buildings  and  annu- 
ally attract  multitudes  of  young  people  from  various 
parts  of  the  country. 

A  feature  of  the  Northfield  work  has  been  the 
Annual  Christian  Workers'  Conference,  which  origi- 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     279 

nated  in  1880.  To  this  Conference,  meeting  each 
summer,  Mr.  Moody  invited  from  time  to  time  the 
foremost  Christian  workers  of  this  country  and 
Great  Britain  to  address  those  who  annually 
assembled  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  At  a  later 
time  the  Students'  Conferences,  meeting  a  little 
earlier  in  the  summer,  were  instituted.  To  accom- 
modate the  numerous  visitors  to  these  gatherings,  a 
large  summer  hotel  was  erected  in  1890.  To  have 
this  building  unused  during  several  months  in  the 
year  did  not  accord  with  Mr.  Moody's  purposes,  and 
it  was  utilized  during  the  winter  for  a  Young 
Woman's  Bible  Training  School,  in  which  Bible 
study  was  combined  with  the  art  and  practice  of 
domestic  science. 

More  important  than  any  of  these,  so  far  as  the 
revival  history  of  our  country  is  concerned,  was  the 
founding  of  the  Bible  Institute  for  Home  and  For- 
eign Missions.  The  purpose  of  this  institute,  which 
was  founded  at  Chicago  in  1889,  was  a  thorough 
and  practical  study  of  the  English  Bible.  It  did  not 
aim  to  compete  with  theological  seminaries  in  pre- 
paring men  for  the  ministry,  but  its  object  was  to 
furnish  various  classes  of  students  with  a  thorough 
understanding  of  the  Bible  in  the  vernacular.  Rev. 
R.  A.  Torrey,  an  evangelist  of  marked  ability,  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  institute,  and  in  accordance 
with  its  original  purposes  he  has  developed  and  con- 


280  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

ducted  this  school  until  it  has  attained  its  present 
standing  of  usefulness  in  the  evangelistic  world.  In 
addition  to  a  two  years'  course  in  the  Bible,  musical 
and  practical  courses  are  offered.  The  musical  de- 
partment aims  not  only  to  give  rudimentary  instruc- 
tion, but  to  train  and  fit  those  who  are  so  qualified 
to  lead  choirs  and  conduct  singing  in  evangelistic 
work.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature  of  the 
institute  is  the  practical  work  department.  Students 
are  assigned  to  various  rescue  missions  in  the  city 
to  render  such  services  as  may  be  required,  acting  as 
ushers,  distributing  cards,  dealing  with  inquirers, 
conducting  the  singing,  etc.  House-to-house  visita- 
tion is  a  phase  of  the  work.  Young  women  are 
assigned  to  certain  districts,  which  they  must  visit 
regularly,  while  the  men  are  assigned  to  the  cheap 
down-town  lodgings  and  such  places,  where  they 
must  come  in  contact  with  those  who  frequent  them 
and  if  possible  lead  them  to  the  Saviour.  Sabbath 
services  are  held  in  the  jails,  and  thus  students  are 
brought  into  touch  with  all  the  varied  phases  of  city 
evangelization.  The  location  of  the  institute  has 
proven  strategic,  and  it  has  been  of  great  value  in 
the  evangelization  of  the  city.  It  was  especially  use- 
ful during  Mr.  Moody's  great  World's  Fair  Cam- 
paign in  1893. 

This  was  by  far  the  most  remarkable  series  of 
meetings  ever  planned  or  carried  into  execution  by 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     281 

Mr.  Moody.  "The  idea  of  making  such  a  carnival 
the  scene  of  a  widespread  evangelistic  effort  was  as 
novel  as  it  was  daring.  But  the  plan  was  under  con- 
sideration for  months,  and  was  arranged  while  the 
Exposition  buildings  were  still  under  construction." 
Many  there  were  to  predict  failure  for  such  an  un- 
dertaking. It  was  asserted  that  the  visitors  to  Chi- 
cago at  the  time  would  come  solely  on  account  of 
the  Exposition.  Discouragements  Mr.  Moody  ex- 
pected to  meet,  but  the  manifest  needs  of  the  situa- 
tion far  outweighed  any  of  the  discouraging  features 
that  might  arise.  There  would  be  a  vast  influx  of 
strangers  into  the  city.  Temptations  of  every  kind 
would  lie  athwart  their  paths.  The  vicious  and  vile 
would  ply  their  nefarious  arts  with  all  the  enginery 
of  evil  at  their  command.  The  forces  for  wickedness 
in  the  city  would  be  augmented  by  reinforcements 
from  without.  While  these  considerations  magnified 
the  difficulty  of  religious  work  at  the  time,  they  but 
emphasized  the  need  for  a  great  religious  campaign 
in  which  the  emissaries  of  evil  should  be  outwitted 
and  the  tables  turned  against  them.  With  faith  and 
courage  undaunted  Mr.  Moody  commenced  the 
campaign.  The  Bible  Institute  served  as  a  base  of 
operations.  The  city  was  divided  into  three  sections 
with  the  following  centers — the  Chicago  Avenue 
Church  on  the  north,  the  First  Congregational  on 
the  west,  and  the  Immanuel  Baptist  on  the  south. 


282  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

Great  buildings  in  various  sections  of  the  city  were 
secured,  tents  were  erected  for  services,  and  meet- 
ings were  held  in  the  open  air. 

The  Haymarket  Theater  was  first  secured.  Here 
Mr.  Moody  preached  every  Sunday  until  the  end  of 
the  campaign,  with  the  exception  of  two  Sundays 
when  he  was  absent  in  the  east.  At  a  later  period 
other  theaters,  such  as  the  Empire,  Standard,  Co- 
lumbia, Hooley's  Opera  House,  and  the  Grand  Opera 
House,  were  made  use  of  for  various  services.  Sev- 
eral places  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Fair  Grounds 
were  secured,  and  towards  the  close  of  the  Exposi- 
tion Mr.  Moody  had  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
meetings  under  his  control.  Two  months  before  the 
close  of  the  Fair,  Central  Music  Hall  was  secured 
for  daily  services  from  n  o'clock  until  i.  The  peo- 
ple flocked  in  throngs  to  hear  the  simple  gospel. 
Said  Dr.  Munroe  Gibson :  "While  the  Fair  Grounds 
were  quite  deserted  on  Sundays  the  churches  were 
full.  There  was  little  use  trying  to  get  into  the 
churches  where  Mr.  Moody  or  Mr.  McNeil  preached 
unless  you  went  an  hour  or  two  before  the  time,  but 
even  with  only  a  preacher  of  ordinary  abilities  the 
church  would  be  filled,  not  only  in  the  morning  but 
also  at  the  evening  service,  and  it  is  no  easy  thing  to 
secure  a  good  attendance  for  evening  services  in 
Chicago." 

Probably  the  most  remarkable  services  of  the  en- 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     283 

tire  campaign  were  those  held  in  Forepaugh's  circus 
tent.  The  circus  was  in  Chicago  in  June,  and  Mr. 
Moody  secured  the  use  of  the  exhibition  tent  for 
Sunday  forenoon,  the  manager  reserving  it  for  the 
use  of  his  show  in  the  afternoon  and  evening.  The 
great  tent  had  sittings  for  ten  thousand  people.  A 
circus  man  incredulously  asked  Moody  if  he  ex- 
pected to  have  three  thousand  hearers.  The  tent 
was  filled  to  overflowing.  An  eyewitness  thus 
described  the  scene :  "The  surroundings  were  the 
usual  circus  furniture — ropes,  trapezes,  gaudy 
decorations,  etc.,  while  in  the  adjoining  canvass 
building  was  a  large  menagerie,  including  eleven 
elephants.  Clowns,  grooms,  circus-riders,  men, 
women,  and  children,  eighteen  thousand  of  them, 
and  on  a  Sunday  morning,  too !  Whether  the  gospel 
was  ever  before  preached  under  such  circumstances 
I  know  not,  but  it  was  wonderful  to  ear  and  eye 
alike."  For  two  Sundays  the  circus  tent  was  rented. 
While  such  throngs  crowded  into  the  tent  to  hear  the 
gospel,  the  circus  manager  was  obliged  to  cancel  his 
Sunday  exhibitions  because  they  were  so  poorly 
attended. 

During  the  progress  of  the  Fair,  meetings  were 
arranged  for  Germans,  Bohemians,  Poles,  French, 
Jews,  and  among  the  Arabs  on  the  Fair  Grounds. 
Special  meetings  for  various  classes  were  conducted 
from  time  to  time.     For  the  work  of  carrying  on 


284  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

these  many  meetings,  Mr.  Moody  called  to  his 
assistance  some  of  the  foremost  pastors  and  evangel- 
ists in  this  country  and  Great  Britain,  such  men  as 
Drs.  A.  C.  Dixon,  H.  M.  Wharton,  J.  Wilbur  Chap- 
man, John  McNeil,  Henry  Varley,  Thomas  Spur- 
geon,  besides  noted  preachers  from  Europe,  to 
preach  to  their  countrymen  in  their  native  languages. 

In  this  work  the  Bible  Institute  rendered  inval- 
uable aid.  Said  Mr.  Moody:  "This  campaign 
could  never  have  been  carried  on  except  for  the  Bible 
Institute.  If  there  was  any  part  of  the  city  where 
we  needed  to  throw  a  detachment  we  had  them  at 
our  command.  If  we  only  had  a  few  hours'  notice 
we  could  send  fifty  men  to  that  part  of  the  city  and 
placard  and  ticket  the  whole  neighborhood  and  fill  a 
building." 

When  the  war  broke  out  between  this  country  and 
Spain,  in  1898,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion at  once  inaugurated  work  for  the  young  volun- 
teers. The  Army  and  Navy  Christian  Commission 
was  formed  with  its  work  subdivided  into  three  de- 
partments: the  executive,  under  the  direction  of 
Colonel  J.  J.  McCook;  the  general  work,  such  as 
Bible  study,  physical  training,  etc.,  under  charge  of 
C.  W.  McAlpine;  and  the  evangelistic  under  D.  L. 
Moody.  The  work  of  the  latter  department  was  four- 
fold: (a)  the  placing  of  eminent  preachers  and 
evangelists   in   the  field   to  preach   the   gospel   to 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     285 

soldiers  in  the  service  of  their  country;  (b)  the  in- 
stitution of  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
tents  in  each  regiment,  where  good  reading  would 
be  available  and  where  writing  materials,  etc.,  could 
be  found;  (c)  the  free  distribution  of  Bibles,  Testa- 
ments, and  religious  literature;  (d)  the  visitation 
of  the  sick  and  wounded  in  hospitals. 

Under  Mr.  Moody's  direction,  Major  Whittle, 
General  O.  O.  Howard,  Rev.  A.  C.  Dixon,  D.D., 
Rev.  R.  A.  Torrey,  D.D.,  and  others  took  the  field 
to  minister  to  the  religious  welfare  of  the  soldiers. 
Some  eight  thousand  soldiers  were  converted 
through  these  efforts.  It  was  Mr.  Moody's  inten- 
tion to  take  the  field  in  person  in  the  autumn,  for  the 
state  of  his  health  was  such  that  it  was  unadvisable 
for  him  to  go  south  earlier  in  the  summer,  but  when 
autumn  came  it  was  unnecessary,  for  the  issues  of 
the  war  were  such  that  Spain  was  ready  to  sue  for 
peace  long  before  the  summer  had  ended. 

Mr.  Moody's  last  campaign  was  conducted  in 
Kansas  City.  The  great  Convention  Hall,  which  had 
a  seating  capacity  of  15,000,  was  secured  for  the 
purpose.  A  large  choir  of  nearly  a  thousand  voices 
was  placed  under  the  leadership  of  Professor  C.  C. 
Case.  The  services  commenced  November  12,  1899, 
and  were  attended  by  thousands  of  people  who  filled 
the  spacious  auditorium.  For  two  or  three  days  Mr. 
Moody  preached  with  his  old-time  vigor  and  power, 


286  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

but  within  a  short  time  he  began  to  show  evidences 
of  exhaustion.  Friday  morning  a  physician  was 
summoned,  and  under  his  direction  Mr.  Moody  re- 
luctantly decided  to  give  up  the  meetings  and  return 
to  Northfield.  It  was  a  severe  trial  for  him  to  do 
this.  "It's  the  first  time  in  forty  years  of  preaching 
that  I  have  had  to  give  up  my  meetings,"  he  said, 
and  a  little  later  in  a  low  tone  of  voice  added,  "It  is 
more  painful  to  give  up  those  audiences  than  it  is  to 
suffer  from  my  ailments."  Reluctantly  he  laid  aside 
the  work  he  loved  so  well  and  started  on  his  home- 
ward journey. 

For  a  time  after  his  arrival  at  Northfield,  the  indi- 
cations seemed  to  be  favorable,  but  the  improvement 
was  only  temporary  and  on  December  22,  in  the 
presence  of  his  wife  and  children,  he  peacefully 
passed  away.  "It  is  my  coronation  day,"  he  ex- 
claimed, as  he  perceived  the  end  approaching. 
Among  his  last  utterances  were :  "Earth  is  receding 
and  heaven  is  opening.  God  is  calling  me.  Is  this 
dying?  It  is  sweet!  There  is  no  valley  here!  I 
have  been  within  the  gates !" 

Four  days  later  he  was  laid  to  rest  on  Round  Top, 
"the  Olivet  of  Northfield,"  there  to  await  the  appear- 
ing of  his  Lord,  whom  he  loved  so  well,  and  for 
whose  second  coming  he  so  fondly  hoped. 

There  is  no  means  of  determining  with  any 
degree  of  accuracy  the  results  of  Mr.  Moody's  long 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     287 

and  useful  life.  Personally  he  had  an  aversion  to 
numbers.  With  characteristic  bluntness  he  once 
replied  to  a  minister  who  asked  him  how  many 
souls  he  had  led  to  Christ :  "I  don't  know  anything 
about  that,  Doctor.  Thank  God,  I  don't  have  to.  I 
don't  keep  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life." 

It  is  safe  to  assume,  however,  that  some  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  conversions  resulted  from  his  labors 
throughout  the  English-speaking  world.  He  was 
the  greatest  evangelist  of  his  generation,  and  one  of 
the  most  successful  soul-winners  that  the  world  has 
ever  known.  In  addition  to  his  personal  labors 
account  must  be  taken  of  his  published  sermons  and 
works  in  a  great  variety  of  forms,  of  his  educational 
enterprises,  the  Northfield  conferences,  etc.  No  man 
can  measure  Mr.  Moody's  influence  for  good  in  the 
world,  for  it  is  safe  to  say  that  millions  have  derived 
inspiration  and  help  from  his  life. 

Mr.  Moody's  preaching  was  plain  and  scriptural. 
He  made  large  and  effective  use  of  anecdotes  and 
incidents  in  illustrating  the  truths  which  he  sought 
to  impress,  thereby  reaching  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  men  whom  no  amount  of  argumentation 
would  have  touched.  He  had  a  profound  conviction 
as  to  the  truth  of  the  Bible,  which  he  accepted  with- 
out question  as  the  unerring  Word  of  God.  It  was 
this  intense  conviction  as  to  the  truthfulness  of  the 
divine  revelation  that  gave  force  and  power  to  his 


288  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

utterances  and  made  him  the  effective  preacher  of 
righteousness  that  he  was. 

He  preached  the  substitutionary  theory  of  the 
atonement,  that  Christ  died  for  us  and  took  our  place 
that  we  might,  by  believing  on  him,  escape  the  pun- 
ishment which  we  deserved  at  the  hands  of  an 
offended  God.  He  enforced  the  doctrines  of  retribu- 
tion, repentance,  restitution,  and  regeneration.  Be- 
hind all  of  his  doctrinal  ideas  was  a  marvelous  con- 
ception of  the  love  of  God.  The  central  theme  of  his 
preaching,  the  pivot  around  which  all  else  revolved, 
was  God's  love  for  a  lost  and  sinning  world,  and 
his  willingness  to  accept  all  who  would  come  to  him 
by  repentance  and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Mr.  Moody 
did  not  appeal  to  men's  fears,  but  insisted  upon 
God's  love  as  a  motive  to  all  right  action. 

He  insisted  upon  the  prayer  of  faith  and  the 
anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  indispensable 
elements  to  true  success  in  winning  souls.  His 
methods,  while  comparatively  few,  were  systematic 
and  complete.  As  a  skillful  general  he  planned  his 
campaigns.  Systematic  visitation  and  meetings  for 
prayer  preceded  the  advent  of  the  evangelists.  In 
the  public  services  which  followed,  the  singing  and 
preaching  of  the  gospel  were  the  principal  means 
relied  upon.  Daily  prayer  meetings  were  a  feature 
of  the  work,  and  every  reasonable  effort  was  put 
forth  to  incite  ministers  and  laymen  to  activity  in 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     289 

the  work  of  saving  souls.  Inquiry  meetings  were 
conducted  at  the  conclusion  of  the  public  preaching 
exercises.  Seekers  were  dealt  with  personally,  in- 
formal talks  were  given,  difficulties  were  solved  and 
dangers  pointed  out.  In  fact  such  instructions  were 
given  as  would  lead  penitents  to  immediate  accept- 
ance of  Jesus  Christ.  Converts  were  urged  to  unite 
with  some  branch  of  the  church  of  Christ,  and  the 
churches  were  charged  with  the  responsibility  of 
watch  care  over  those  who  had  been  brought  into 
the  fold. 

It  was  this  earnest  preaching  and  this  faithful  use 
of  methods  that  gave  Mr.  Moody  an  influence  that 
will  live.  "Some  day,"  he  had  said,  "you  will  read 
in  the  papers  that  D.  L.  Moody  of  East  Northfield 
is  dead.  Don't  you  believe  a  word  of  it!  At  that 
moment  I  shall  be  more  alive  than  I  am  now.  I  shall 
have  gone  up  higher,  that  is  all — out  of  this  old  clay 
tenement  into  a  house  that  is  immortal ;  a  body  that 
sin  cannot  touch,  that  sin  cannot  taint,  a  body  fash- 
ioned like  unto  his  glorious  body.  I  was  born  of  the 
flesh  in  1837.  I  was  born  of  the  Spirit  in  1856. 
That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  may  die.  That 
which  is  born  of  the  spirit  will  live  forever." 

Closely  identified  with  the  lay  movement  in  their 
use  of  methods,  and  in  the  development  of  lay 
activity,  although  not  laymen  themselves,  are  the 
names  of  B.   Fay  Mills  and  J.   Wilbur  Chapman, 


290  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

without  a  consideration  of  whom  this  chapter  would 
not  be  complete. 

B.  Fay  Mills  was  born  at  Rahway,  N.  J.,  in  1857, 
and  received  his  collegiate  education  at  Lake  Forest 
University,  111.  In  1886,  after  a  brief  but  successful 
experience  in  the  pastorate,  he  entered  upon  evangel- 
istic work,  and  for  a  period  of  ten  years  labored 
with  great  success  in  nearly  all  of  the  leading  cities 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

Mr.  Mills'  manner  of  working  was  very  syste- 
matic. An  executive  committee  of  ten  or  twelve 
ministers  or  laymen  had  oversight  of  the  campaign. 
For  several  months  this  committee  would  be  actively 
engaged  in  preparing  for  the  services,  by  interesting 
workers,  and  arousing  the  churches ;  one  of  the  first 
directions  of  Mr.  Mills  being,  "Get  to  work;  pray 
and  plan;  make  use  of  every  means  ordained  by 
God."  The  preliminary  work  was  entrusted  to 
three  committees,  viz. :  a  Committee  on  Finance — to 
secure  funds  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  meetings, 
the  evangelists  being  provided  for  by  free-will  offer- 
ings ;  a  Committee  on  Canvassing — to  supervise  the 
work  of  visitation,  the  city  being  divided  into  dis- 
tricts, and  a  personal  invitation  given  to  every 
family  in  these  respective  districts  a  week  before  the 
meetings  commenced;  a  Committee  on  Music — to 
organize  and  train  as  large  a  chorus  choir  as  possible, 
and  to  arrange  for  an  organist  throughout  the  ser- 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     291 

vices.  For  the  revival  work  proper  there  were  also 
three  committees,  viz. :  a  Committee  on  Advertising 
— to  keep  the  public  posted  as  to  the  meetings,  mak- 
ing judicious  use  of  the  public  press,  bulletin  boards, 
handbills,  etc. ;  a  Devotional  Committee — to  arrange 
for  two  daily  prayer  meetings,  one  for  men  and  the 
other  for  women,  to  be  held  in  the  forenoon  and 
afternoon  respectively;  a  Committee  on  Ushers — to 
have  oversight  of  the  work  for  arranging  for  the 
physical  comfort  of  the  audiences,  the  distribution 
of  decision  cards  at  the  conclusion  of  the  preaching 
services,  and  to  have  supervision  of  the  personal 
work  with  inquirers.  This  being  the  work  entrusted 
to  the  "Ushers,"  it  was  required  by  Mr.  Mills  that 
they  should  not  only  be  men  of  mature  minds,  but 
that  the  most  efficient  and  consecrated  men  from  the 
various  churches  should  be  selected  for  this  work, 
since  the  effectiveness  of  the  meetings  depended 
largely  upon  them. 

A  feature  of  Mr.  Mills'  system  was  what  was 
known  as  the  District  Combination  Plan.  The  city 
in  which  the  campaign  was  conducted  would  be 
divided  into  large  districts,  in  each  of  which  the 
meetings  would  be  conducted  for  a  specified  time,  so 
that  by  the  end  of  the  campaign  the  whole  city 
would  have  been  reached  by  the  services. 

At  the  conclusion  of  each  discourse,  those  who 
wished  to  become  Christians  were  invited  to  arise. 


292  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

Cards     bearing     the     following     inscription     were 
placed  in  their  hands  for  signature : 

I  have   an  honest   desire  henceforth   to 
lead  a  Christian  life. 

Name 

Residence   

Church  or  Pastor  preferred 

Date 

An  after  meeting  followed  the  public  service. 
"Ushers"  were  expected  to  invite  any  who  had 
signed  cards,  or  who  seemed  interested  to  remain. 
Difficulties  were  considered,  objections  met,  and 
such  instructions  were  offered  as  would  lead  to  im- 
mediate decision  for  Christ. 

So  perfectly  was  the  campaign  planned  and  so 
systematically  was  it  prosecuted,  that  in  the  hands 
of  a  wise  leader  it  could  hardly  fail  of  success. 
Thousands  in  the  various  cities  visited  by  Mr.  Mills 
signed  decision  cards,  although  the  criticism  was 
freely  offered  that  there  was  a  lack  of  permanency 
in  the  results.  Be  that  as  it  may,  there  can  be  no 
question  that  great  and  lasting  good  was  accom- 
plished, and  that  many  of  such  as  should  be  saved 
were  led  to  decision  in  these  meetings. 

In  recent  years  Mr.  Mills  has  been  identified  with 
the  Unitarians,  and  although  of  late  he  has  con- 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     293 

ducted  special  services,  they  have  been  along  lines 
that  could  not  be  classified  as  evangelical. 

Methods  similar  to  the  foregoing  have  been  em- 
ployed with  marked  success  by  J.  Wilbur  Chapman, 
D.D.,  who  for  a  time  was  associated  with  Mr.  Mills 
and  later  with  Mr.  Moody,  as  vice-president  of  the 
Bible  Institute,  and  also  as  a  co-worker  in  the 
World's  Fair  Campaign,  and  in  some  of  his  later 
efforts  in  Pittsburgh  and  New  York  City. 

Dr.  Chapman  was  born  in  Indiana  in  1859  and 
received  his  collegiate  education  at  Oberlin  and  Lake 
Forest,  where  he  was  a  classmate  of  B.  Fay  Mills. 
From  1 879- 1 882  he  studied  theology  at  Lane  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  In  1883  ne 
accepted  a  call  to  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  at 
Schuylerville,  N.  Y.  During  this  pastorate  he  at- 
tended a  series  of  meetings  conducted  by  Mr.  Moody 
at  Albany,  N.  Y.  So  great  was  the  influence  of 
these  meetings  and  so  deep  was  the  impression  made 
upon  the  mind  of  the  young  pastor,  that  on  his 
return  a  revival  commenced  in  his  church,  which 
resulted  in  over  a  hundred  conversions,  including 
some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  town.  In  1884  ne 
was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Reformed 
Church  at  Albany.  For  five  years  he  ministered  to 
this  aristocratic  and  conservative  church,  which 
witnessed  more  than  five  hundred  conversions  dur- 
ing these  years.     Early  in  1890  Dr.  Chapman  ac- 


294  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

cepted  a  call  to  the  great  Bethany  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Philadelphia.  Eleven  hundred  united 
with  the  church  on  confession  of  faith  in  a  little  less 
than  three  years.  In  the  meanwhile  he  had  received 
numerous  calls  to  assist  in  evangelistic  work,  which 
he  did,  so  far  as  the  duties  of  his  pastorate  would 
permit.  Finally  he  was  induced  to  relinquish  his 
pastorate  in  order  to  devote  his  whole  time  to 
evangelistic  labors.  For  three  years  he  conducted 
successful  revivals  in  many  of  the  leading  cities  in 
America.  During  all  of  these  years  the  Bethany 
Church  was  without  a  pastor.  Finally  after  repeated 
overtures  he  accepted  a  re-call  to  that  church  with 
the  understanding  that  he  should  devote  half  of  his 
time  if  he  so  desired  to  evangelistic  work.  In  1899 
he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church 
of  New  York  City.  Three  years  later  he  was  per- 
suaded to  lay  aside  his  pastoral  duties  to  devote  his 
whole  time  to  the  secretaryship  of  the  Evangelistic 
Committee,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

In  addition  to  his  personal  efforts  in  revival  work, 
Dr.  Chapman  has  published  several  small  volumes 
of  sermons,  and  two  or  three  books  upon  the  subject 
of  revivals,  all  of  which  have  received  a  wide  circu- 
lation and  have  rendered  invaluable  service  in  the 
work  of  evangelism. 

Numerous  other  evangelists  of  national  reputa- 


THE  LAY  MOVEMENT  IN  REVIVALS.     295 

tion  have  labored  during  this  period,  such  as  Mrs. 
Maggie  Van  Cott,  C.  H.  Yatman,  E.  E.  Davidson, 
and  Sam  Jones,  the  eccentric  Southern  evangelist, 
among  the  Methodists;  H.  G.  Dewitt,  A.  P.  Graves, 
H.  W.  Brown,  S.  H.  Pratt,  and  H.  M.  Wharton, 
among  the  Baptists ;  Harold  F.  Sayles,  Major  Cole 
and  many  others  in  various  denominations,  of  whom 
"time  would  fail  me  to  tell,"  besides  numerous 
evangelistic  pastors  who  have  helped  to  make  the 
period  embraced  within  the  years  1870- 1900  one  of 
the  most  fruitful  periods  in  the  history  of  American 
Christianity. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ORGANIZED  MOVEMENTS. 

Contemporaneous  with  the  lay  movement  in 
revivals  has  been  the  expansion  and  development  of 
lay  organizations,  which  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously have  proven  powerful  factors  in  evangelism. 
The  earliest  of  such  organizations  was  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  This  movement  was 
founded  by  George  Williams  of  London,  England, 
who  instituted  a  prayer  meeting  for  the  clerks  in  the 
establishment  of  George  Hitchcock  &  Co.,  drapers, 
where  he  was  employed.  Similar  meetings  were  es- 
tablished in  other  mercantile  houses,  and  June  6, 
1844,  a  "Society  for  Improving  the  Spiritual  Condi- 
tion of  Young  Men  Engaged  in  the  Drapery  and 
other  Trades"  was  organized.  Four  weeks  later 
the  name  was  changed  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association.  During  the  earlier  years  the  growth 
of  the  organization  was  slow,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  latter  part  of  185 1  that  the  first  American  Asso- 
ciations were  formed.  The  earliest  association  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic  was  organized  in  Montreal 


ORGANIZED    MOVEMENTS.  297 

December  9,  1851.  On  the  29th  of  the  same  month 
the  first  association  in  the  United  States  was  in- 
stituted at  Boston.  This  association  resulted  from 
an  article  written  by  an  American  student  for  the 
Watchman  and  Reflector.  This  article  descriptive 
of  the  London  Association  attracted  the  attention  of 
a  few  Christian  young  men  who  corresponded  with 
the  London  secretary  about  the  organization.  As  a 
result  the  Boston  Association  was  formed.  In  1852 
associations  were  organized  in  Buffalo,  Washing- 
ton, New  York  and  Baltimore. 

The  Revival  of  1857  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  The  associa- 
tion rooms  became  the  rallying  places  for  large  num- 
bers of  young  men  who  had  been  converted  and 
furnished  them  an  effective  training  school  for 
Christian  work.  The  Civil  War  proved  disastrous 
to  many  associations  on  account  of  the  excessive  en- 
listments, which  depleted  their  numbers  and  forced 
them  to  disband.  The  work  of  such  associations 
was  not  lost,  for  the  presence  of  their  members  in  the 
army  had  a  goodly  influence  upon  their  compatriots. 
The  work  of  the  Christian  and  Sanitary  Commis- 
sions received  the  hearty  endorsement  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  and  local  associations 
rendered  efficient  service  in  this  work. 

Since  1870  the  growth  of  the  organization  has 
been  phenomenal.     New  lines  of  work  have  been 


298  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

developed — the  railroad  work,  the  evening  educa- 
tional classes,  college  association  work,  and  the 
Student  Volunteer  movement,  being  some  of  the 
phases  in  which  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion has  been  especially  serviceable. 

The  Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  with 
no  small  degree  of  success,  has  attempted  work 
along  similar  lines  for  young  women.  These  organ- 
izations have  not  only  served  as  an  anchor  to  multi- 
tudes of  young  people,  who  might  otherwise  have 
drifted,  especially  amid  the  temptations  of  city  life, 
but  they  have  been  instrumental  also  in  leading 
large  numbers  to  embrace  the  Christian  faith. 

More  potent  still  has  been  the  influence  of  the 
Young  People's  Societies.  One  of  the  problems  of 
the  church  life  in  the  past  was  how  to  reach  and  hold 
the  young  people.  A  tentative  solution  was  the 
young  people's  prayer  meeting,  a  service  of  rather 
ephemeral  character,  which  was  long  experimented 
with  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  a  fair  type 
of  which  was  described  as  belonging  to  "the  spas- 
modic variety  that  wilted  under  the  heat  of  summer, 
was  frequently  washed  away,  for  the  time  being,  by 
the  rains  of  autumn  and  was  blockaded  by  the  snows 
of  winter."  None  of  the  various  experiments 
seemed  to  quite  meet  the  situation  until  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor.     The   first    society   was    formed   by    Rev. 


ORGANIZED    MOVEMENTS.  299 

Francis  E.  Clark  at  the  Williston  Church,  Portland, 
Me.  The  church  had  been  visited  with  a  gracious 
revival,  among  the  converts  of  which  were  a  number 
of  promising  young  people.  In  order  to  bridge  the 
gap  between  conversion  and  church  membership, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  giving  these  young  converts 
some  systematic  training  in  Christian  work,  they 
were  invited  to  meet  in  the  pastor's  parlor,  Wednes- 
day, February  2,  1881.  A  constitution,  which  he 
had  previously  drawn  up,  was  presented  for  an 
organization  entitled  the  "Williston  Young  People's 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor."  Thirty-five  boys 
and  girls  appended  their  names  to  the  document 
which  has  become  historic.  They  pledged  them- 
selves to  be  present  and  to  take  some  part  in  the 
weekly  prayer  meetings.  Monthly  consecration 
meetings  were  a  feature  of  the  new  organization, 
and  a  "look-out"  committee  was  charged  with  the 
duty  of  looking  after  delinquent  members  and  en- 
listing new  recruits. 

The  first  public  notice  of  this  organization  was 
an  article  by  Dr.  Clark  in  the  Congrcgationalist  in 
August,  1 88 1,  entitled  "How  One  Church  Cares  for 
its  Young  People."  The  idea  met  with  public  favor, 
and  by  February,  1882,  there  were  twenty  Christian 
Endeavor  Societies  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
During  the  earlier  years  of  its  history,  the  growth 
of  the  organization  was  comparatively  slow,  but  by 


3oo  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

1886  there  were  reported  850  societies  and  30,000 
members,  "representing  eight  different  denomina- 
tions, distributed  through  thirty-three  States,  Terri- 
tories, and  Provinces,  with  seven  societies  in  foreign 
lands." 

In  1885  the  United  Society  was  incorporated  "to 
bind  the  societies  closer  together  in  a  common 
interest  and  to  provide  a  responsible  central  organ- 
ization, through  which  the  work  of  the  society  may 
be  carried  on  in  the  way  of  raising,  receiving  and 
paying  out  money,  and  giving  proper  custody  for 
whatever  property  the  society  may  acquire."  The 
expenses  of  this  society  are  met  by  the  sale  of  litera- 
ture, badges,  etc.,  no  assessments  being  made  on  the 
local  societies  for  the  purpose. 

In  1887  Rev-  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D.,  was  chosen 
president  of  the  United  Society  and  editor  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  literature.  In  the  interest  of  all  that 
pertains  to  the  welfare  of  this  movement  Dr.  Clark 
has  been  an  indefatigable  worker,  compassing  sea 
and  land  in  his  efforts  to  extend  and  build  up  the  En- 
deavor cause.  In  these  efforts  he  has  received  the 
co-operation  of  a  host  of  consecrated  workers 
throughout  the  world. 

Since  1886  the  growth  and  expansion  of  the  En- 
deavor movement  have  been  remarkable,  and  it  now 
numbers  thousands  of  societies  and  hosts  of  mem- 
bers throughout  the  world.    The  work  of  the  organ- 


ORGANIZED    MOVEMENTS.  301 

ization  has  been  developed  until  it  embraces  temper- 
ance, good  citizenship,  prison  work,  etc.,  while  the 
division  of  its  membership  into  Active,  Associate 
and  Honorary,  and  its  departments  for  Junior,  In- 
termediate and  Senior  work,  give  the  largest  scope 
to  its  usefulness. 

Although  the  original  purpose  of  the  society  was 
the  training  and  development  of  young  people  for 
Christian  service,  the  organization  has  proven  a 
mighty  evangelistic  agency,  more  than  a  million  of 
its  associate  membership  having  gone  into  the 
various  evangelical  churches,  influenced  in  part  at 
least  through  this  organization. 

In  order  to  provide  for  a  type  of  young  people's 
society  which  should  accord  with  the  genius  of  the 
denomination,  the  Methodists  early  favored  a  de- 
nominational form  of  organization.  The  earliest 
society  of  this  character  was  the  Young  People's 
Methodist  Alliance,  which  was  formed  on  the  Des 
Plaines  camp  ground  near  Chicago,  August  25, 
1883,  by  Henry  Date,  a  young  lay  evangelist. 
Other  organizations  with  a  similar  purpose  sprang 
into  existence,  so  that  by  1889,  in  addition  to  hun- 
dreds of  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  throughout 
the  denomination,  there  were  no  less  than  five  dis- 
tinct Methodist  young  people's  organizations.  To 
merge  these  organizations,  a  convention  met  at  the 
Central  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Cleveland, 


302  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

Ohio,  in  May,  1889,  and  perfected  a  society  to  be 
known  as  the  Epworth  League. 

The  progress  of  this  organization  has  been  phe- 
nomenal. At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Con- 
trol in  February,  1890,  it  was  advised  that  all  exist- 
ing  young  people's  societies  in  the  church  become 
Epworth  Leagues.  In  1892,  by  virtue  of  an  act 
passed  by  the  General  Conference  at  Omaha,  the 
Epworth  League  was  officially  endorsed  and  became 
an  organic  part  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
It  has  also  found  a  home  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  other  branches  of  Methodism. 

Other  denominational  movements  have  been  or- 
ganized, such  as  the  Baptist  Young  People's  Union, 
the  Luther  League,  the  Young  People's  Christian 
Union,  etc.,  in  other  religious  denominations. 

An  existence  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  has 
proved  the  right  of  the  Young  People's  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor  and  kindred  organizations  to 
exist.  The  young  people's  movement  is  no  longer 
an  experiment,  but  an  established  fact.  Millions 
have  been  effectively  trained  for  service,  and  vast 
multitudes  have  been  gathered  into  the  churches 
through  their  instrumentality. 

To  the  very  romance  of  evangelism  belongs  the 
history  and  work  of  the  Salvation  Army,  which  was 
founded  in  East  London,  England,  in  1865,  by  Rev. 
William  Booth,  a  former  minister  of  the  Methodist 


ORGANIZED    MOVEMENTS.         303 

New  Connexion.  The  work  which  he  inaugurated 
prospered,  and  was  known  as  the  Christian  Mis- 
sion until  1878,  when  with  the  introduction  of 
military  methods  it  was  changed  to  the  Salvation 
Army. 

The  history  of  the  Army  in  this  country  dates 
back  to  the  year  1880,  when  Commissioner  Railton 
with  seven  "hallelujah"  lasses  landed  at  Castle  Gar- 
den and  made  an  "attack"  on  the  city  of  New  York. 
Some  time  prior  to  this  services  had  been  held  in 
Philadelphia  by  a  family  of  Shirleys  who  had  been 
connected  with  the  Army  in  England,  and  had  emi- 
grated to  America.  Within  a  few  months  after 
Railton's  arrival  corps  were  established  in  various 
other  cities,  and  the  Army  began  its  career  of  pros- 
perity in  this  country,  which,  however,  was  not  unin- 
terrupted. Commissioner  Railton  was  succeeded  in 
the  command  of  the  American  forces  by  Major 
Thomas  E.  Moore.  For  a  time  all  went  well,  but 
soon  disturbing  rumors  reached  International  Head- 
quarters at  London,  and  Moore  was  recalled.  He 
refused  to  obey  and  withdrew  from  the  original 
organization,  taking  nine-tenths  of  the  Army  in 
America  with  him. 

Commissioner  Frank  Smith  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  remnant  which  remained.  He 
rallied  about  him  the  scattered  forces,  and  within  a 
twelve-month  the  American  contingent  of  the  Salva- 


304  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

tion  Army  was  stronger  than  ever.  Since  that  time 
the  growth  of  the  organization  has  been  substantial 
and  permanent. 

In  1887  Ballington  Booth,  the  second  son  of  Gen- 
eral William  Booth,  and  his  wife,  Maude  Charles- 
worth  Booth,  a  most  accomplished  woman  and  a 
splendid  platform  speaker,  were  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  American  forces.  They  not  only 
succeeded  in  winning  for  themselves  the  favor  of  an 
appreciative  public,  but  through  their  influence  and 
self-denying  efforts,  the  Army  met  with  that  recog- 
nition from  pulpit,  press  and  people  which  it  so 
richly  deserved. 

It  has  been  the  constant  aim  of  the  Salvation 
Army  to  reach  the  unchurched  classes  and  those  who 
were  beyond  the  ordinary  religious  influences  of  the 
day.  It  has  sought  to  rescue  the  drunkard  and  the 
harlot,  to  reclaim  the  outcast  of  society,  and  to 
bring  the  "lowest  of  the  low"  into  personal  touch 
with  the  saving  message  of  the  gospel.  For  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  purpose  it  not  only  conducts 
religious  services,  but  through  its  rescue-homes, 
work-bureaus,  cheap  lodging  houses,  and  the  em- 
ployment of  every  legitimate  means,  it  aims  to  ele- 
vate and  save  men  and  women,  morally  and  socially. 
Untold  thousands  have  been  reclaimed  to  sobriety 
and  righteousness  through  this  organization.  Mul- 
titudes of  its  converts,  especially  of  the  more  respec- 


ORGANIZED    MOVEMENTS.  305 

table  classes,  have  found  a  home  in  the  various 
churches,  while  not  a  few  who  are  now  in  the  gospel 
ministry  received  their  first  training  in  Christian 
work  in  the  ranks  of  the  Salvation  Army. 

On  account  of  differences  existing  between  them 
and  International  Headquarters,  Commander  and 
Mrs.  Ballington  Booth  were  forced  to  relinquish 
their  command  of  the  American  wing  of  the  Army 
early  in  1896,  and  a  few  months  later  they  were 
succeeded  by  Frederick  De  Latour  Tucker  and  his 
wife,  Emma  Booth  Tucker,  whose  recent  tragic 
death  shocked  the  whole  Christian  world. 

Forced  to  give  up  their  command,  Commander 
and  Mrs.  Booth  could  not  give  up  their  work  for 
lost  and  fallen  humanity.  After  some  deliberation 
they  decided  to  inaugurate  a  new  movement  which 
should  be  known  as  the  Volunteers  of  America,  with 
a  less  autocratic  form  of  government  and  along 
lines  slightly  divergent  from  the  work  of  the  Salva- 
tion Army. 

A  leading  feature  in  the  work  of  the  Volunteers 
have  been  their  efforts  in  behalf  of  prisoners  in 
various  penal  institutions  of  the  country,  to  which 
Mrs.  Booth  has  devoted  a  great  deal  of  attention. 
Hope  Halls  for  prison  graduates,  as  released  pris- 
oners are  called,  have  been  instituted  in  several 
places  to  care  for  these  unfortunates  and  to  provide 
for  their  restoration  to  society  and  respectability. 


3o6  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

While  other  denominations  have  developed  along 
the  line  of  lay  activity,  the  Roman  Catholics  and 
Episcopalians  have  not  been  idle,  but  have  sought 
the  conversion  of  men  by  means  of  Missions  which 
are  not  dissimilar  to  revivals.  Within  recent  years 
the  Parochial  Missions  Society  for  the  United 
States  has  been  organized  in  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  with  the  Bishop  of  New  York  as  its 
president,  and  some  twenty  bishops  in  various  parts 
of  the  country  as  honorary  vice-presidents.  At  the 
present  time  a  staff  of  more  than  thirty  missioners 
is  employed  for  conducting  evangelistic  meetings  or 
missions. 

Efforts  have  been  made  in  recent  years  to  enlist 
the  Sunday  Schools  in  the  direct  work  of  evangeliza- 
tion by  means  of  an  annual  ' 'Decision  Day,"  when 
special  efforts  shall  be  made  by  officers  and  teachers 
to  influence  their  pupils  to  decide  for  Christ  and 
enter  upon  the  duties  of  the  Christian  life.  Not 
infrequently  such  efforts  are  under  the  supervision 
of  the  pastor,  in  whose  care  the  young  converts  are 
placed  for  definite  instruction  and  training  in  the 
Christian  life  before  they  are  admitted  to  church 
membership. 

The  great  revivals  of  the  period,  and  the  various 
organized  movements  for  evangelization,  have  made 
the  years  1870- 1900  emphatically  a  revival  era.  The 
work  on  the  whole  has  not  only  been  quiet  and 


ORGANIZED    MOVEMENTS.         307 

orderly,  but  deep  and  lasting.  As  the  century  drew 
towards  its  close,  however,  there  was  a  diminishing 
number  of  accessions  to  the  churches,  and  indica- 
tions were  not  wanting  that  the  religious  life  of  the 
nation  was  suffering  a  decline,  but  with  the  efforts 
now  under  way  in  various  denominations,  it  is  hoped 
that  the  opening  years  of  this  new  century  may  be 
characterized  by  a  sweeping  revival  which  shall 
greatly  increase  the  usefulness  and  spiritual  power 
of  the  churches. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CONCLUSION. 

What  lessons,  if  any,  are  to  be  derived  for  com- 
ing revivals  from  the  revivals  of  the  past?  In  all 
true  religious  awakenings  are  to  be  found  elements 
which  are  permanent,  while  others  are  but  the 
products  of  the  occasion.  What  seems  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  one  age,  apparently  is  of  little  value 
in  influencing  the  next.  For  example  during  the 
Great  Awakening  preaching  was  the  chief  means 
relied  upon  for  the  conversion  of  men,  but  in  the 
Great  Revival  of  1857  union  prayer  meetings  only 
seemed  to  be  necessary  to  reach  men  with  the  influ- 
ences of  the  gospel,  while  in  the  later  phases  of 
revival  work,  the  most  perfect  organization  and  the 
most  perfectly  planned  campaigns  have  been  the 
methods  best  suited  to  accomplish  the  results  desired. 

There  are,  however,  certain  elements  of  perma- 
nency which  have  been  characteristic  of  all  true  revi- 
vals from  Pentecost  down  to  the  present  time.  An 
analysis  of  the  great  revivals  of  history  shows  these 
elements  to  be  Prayer,  the  Outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  Presentation  of  the  Gospel. 

I.  Prayer.     The  first  great  revival  of  the  Chris- 


CONCLUSION.  309 

tian  era  was  preceded  by  a  ten  days'  meeting  of 
prayer.  Of  the  disciples  we  are  told  that  "these  all 
with  one  accord  continued  stedfastly  in  prayer,"  in 
consequence  of  which  "they  were  all  filled  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  began  to  speak  with  other  tongues 
as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance."  As  a  result  we 
are  informed :  "there  were  added  unto  them  in  that 
day  about  three  thousand  souls.  And  they  con- 
tinued stedfastly  in  the  apostles'  teaching,  and  fel- 
lowship, and  in  breaking  of  bread,  and  in  prayers." 
"And  the  Lord  added  to  them  day  by  day  those  that 
were  being  saved." 

Every  true  revival  is  preceded  by  its  Pentecost. 
It  is  possible  to  have  revivals  without  preaching, 
without  churches,  and  without  ministers,  but  with- 
out prayer  a  genuine  revival  is  impossible.  The 
great  revival  at  the  Kirk  of  Shotts,  in  Scotland,  when 
five  hundred  were  converted  under  a  single  sermon 
by  John  Livingstone  on  the  1st  of  June,  1630,  was 
preceded  by  a  night  of  prayer.  Whitefield  and  Ed- 
wards, the  leading  lights  of  the  Great  Awakening, 
were  mighty  men  in  prayer.  Of  the  former  it  was 
said :  "He  triumphed  in  the  pulpit,  because  he 
triumphed  at  a  throne  of  grace.  He  was  a  powerful 
preacher,  because  he  was  a  powerful  supplicator." 
Edwards'  celebrated  sermon  at  Enfield,  "Sinners  in 
the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God,"  was  said  to  have  been 
preceded  by  a  whole  night  of  prayer  on  the  part  of  a 


3io  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

few  faithful  disciples.  In  some  portions  of  the 
country,  the  Awakening  of  1800  was  prepared  for 
by  days  of  fasting  and  prayer.  The  Revival  of  1857 
commenced  with  the  prayers  of  a  humble  layman, 
while  the  secret  of  success  in  the  lives  of  Finney  and 
Moody  is  attributable  to  prevailing  prayer.  Of  his 
own  experience  Finney  said:  "Unless  I  had  the 
spirit  of  prayer  I  could  do  nothing.  If  even  for  a 
day  or  an  hour  I  lost  the  spirit  of  grace  and  supplica- 
tion, I  found  myself  unable  to  preach  with  power 
and  efficiency,  or  to  win  souls  by  personal  conversa- 
tion." 

II.  The  Outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  this 
which  qualifies  the  worker,  which  gives  force  and 
unction  to  his  utterance,  which  strangely  softens  the 
hearts  of  men  and  prepares  their  minds  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  truths  of  the  gospel.  The  gift  of  the 
Spirit  is  needed  for : 

(a)  The  offering  of  an  acceptable  prayer  for  a 
revival.  "Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  in- 
firmities ;  for  we  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for 
as  we  ought;  but  the  Spirit  himself  maketh  inter- 
cession for  us  with  groanings  which  cannot  be 
uttered." 

(b)  The  presentation  of  the  truths  of  the  gospel. 
"And  I  was  with  you  in  weakness,  and  in  fear,  and 
in  much  trembling.  And  my  speech  and  my  preach- 
ing was  not  with  the  enticing  words  of  man's  wis- 


CONCLUSION.  311 

dom,  but  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of 
power;  that  your  faith  should  not  stand  in  the  wis- 
dom of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God." 

(c)  The  conviction  of  sin.  "And  when  he  is 
come,  he  will  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  and  of 
righteousness,  and  of  judgment." 

The  Spirit  usually  works  through  human  instru- 
mentalities, and  it  is  necessary  therefore  that  the 
church  or  some  part  of  the  church  should  receive  the 
divine  anointing  that  it  may  successfully  accom- 
plish its  mission  in  reaching  and  saving  the  lost. 

Before  Jesus  left  them,  he  gave  commandment  to 
his  disciples :  "But  tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem, until  ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on  high." 
This  gift  of  power  was  to  accompany  the  advent  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Pentecost  and  its  consequences 
witness  eloquently  to  the  effects  of  that  power. 
Through  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  the  disciples  who  had 
faltered  at  the  betrayal  of  their  Lord  were  made 
strong  and  became  tremendously  effective  in  their 
work  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world. 

If  these  disciples  who  for  three  years  had  sat  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus  and  learned  from  him  the  secrets  of 
success  in  winning  men,  needed  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  it  were  folly  for  others  to  hope  for  suc- 
cess in  the  work  of  saving  souls  without  seeking  that 
same  gift  of  power  which  is  the  accompaniment  of 
the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


3i2  AMERICAN    REVIVALS. 

III.  The  Presentation  of  Gospel  Truth.  The  doc- 
trines of  retribution,  repentance,  regeneration,  God's 
love  for  a  sinning-  world,  his  willingness  to  save, 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  a  Saviour,  and  related 
themes  must  be  brought  vividly  before  the  minds  of 
men.  This  may  be  done  by  preaching  alone,  as  was 
the  case  during  the  Great  Awakening;  by  personal 
work,  the  distribution  of  tracts,  and  personal  testi- 
mony, as  was  largely  the  case  during  the  Revival  of 
1857;  or  it  may  be  a  combination  of  these  various 
methods  with  house-to-house  visitation,  the  service 
of  song,  the  free  use  of  the  public  press,  etc.,  as  has 
been  done  with  such  eminent  success  in  the  lay  move- 
ment in  revivals.  Whatever  may  be  the  method, 
there  must  be  the  presentation  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  which  "is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to 
every  one  that  believeth." 

Christ  gave  commandment  to  his  disciples :  "Go 
ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  Said  the  Apostle  Paul :  "Whosoever 
shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved. 
How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom  they  have 
not  believed?  and  how  shall  they  believe  in  him 
whom  they  have  not  heard  ?  and  how  shall  they  hear 
without  a  preacher?"  One  thing  is  essential — the 
gospel  must  be  preached,  whether  it  is  done  from 
the  sacred  desk,  or  in  a  private  conversation,  or  by 
a   hymn    appropriately    rendered,    or   through   the 


CONCLUSION.  313 

printed  page.  If  men  are  ever  to  be  converted  the 
claims  of  the  gospel  must  be  enforced,  "not  with  the 
enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in  the  demon- 
stration of  the  Spirit  and  of  power." 

These  three  elements,  Prayer,  the  Outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  Presentation  of  Gospel 
Truth,  constitute  the  invariable  characteristics  of  all 
true  revivals  from  Pentecost  to  the  present  time.  It 
is  safe  to  presume  therefore  that  there  never  will  be 
revivals  of  any  great  value  to  the  Church  of  Christ, 
without  relying  upon  these  conditions  which  seem  to 
be  indispensable. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  revivals  are  but  tem- 
poral phenomena  of  religious  life,  and  must  ulti- 
mately pass  away.  If  we  believe  in  the  final  triumph 
of  the  kingdom,  it  follows  that  there  will  come  a 
time  when  revivals  will  no  longer  be  necessary. 
But  while  there  is  a  single  impenitent  child  of  God, 
revivals  in  some  form  or  other  will  be  a  necessity  for 
bringing  such  into  the  fold  of  Christ.  Methods 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  do  not  constitute  the  perma- 
nent elements  in  revivals,  must  change,  in  fact  are 
changing,  so  that  revivals  as  we  now  know  them 
may  pass  away,  but  with  the  passing  of  the  old 
newer  and  better  methods  will  be  devised,  so  that 
revivals  in  some  form  or  another  will  survive  so 
long  as  there  are  lost  men  whom  it  is  possible  to 
bring  under  the  influences  of  the  gospel. 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 
A 

Albright,    Jacob 209 

Alexander,  Archibald 84 

American  Bible  Society    .......    105 

American  Tract  Society 105,  242 

Andrews,  Emerson  .         .         .         .         .         .         .176 

Anxious   Seats  .         .         .       47,97,147,161,173,196,251 

Army  Churches 247-249 

Army  and  Navy  Christian  Commission   .         .         .    284,  285 
Asbury,  Francis  .  .         .         .  .  .   75,  76,  190-192 

Austin  College 159 

Awakening  of  1800  .         .         .         .83,  84-107,182,211,  310 

B 

Baker,  Daniel,  156;  conversion,  157;  revival  at  Princeton, 
157;  revival  labors,  158;  missionary  labors  in  Texas, 
159;  doctrines  and  measures       .....    160 

Bancroft,  George,  quoted 186 

Bangs,  Nathan 183 

Baptists,    the     .         .         .     65,  68,  73,  93,  101,  163,  164,  177,  178 

Baptist  Young  People's  Union 302 

Barnes,    Albert 161 

Baxter,  George  A.,  quoted 95 

Beecher,  Lyman         .         .         .         .78,  136,  137,  142,  143,   161 

Bible  Institute,  the 279.  280,  284 

Blair,  Samuel 30,  44,     46 

Bliss,  P.  P 274,  275 

Boehme,  Martin 207 

Booth,   Ballington 304,  305 

Booth,  Mrs.  Maude  Charlesworth     .  304,  305 


316 


INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS. 


Booth,  William 
Boston,  revivals  at  . 
Bowman,  E.  B.,  quoted 
Brainerd,  David 
Brooklyn,  revivals  at 
Brown,  H.  W. 
Brunson,  Alfred,  quoted 
Buckley,  J.  M. 
Buell,  Samuel  . 
Burchard,  Jedediah  . 


Calvin,  John     . 
Calvinism. 

Cambridge   Platform 
Campbell,  Alexander  and 
Camp  Meetings 
Cane  Ridge,  Ky.,  revival  at 
Carnival  of  Crime     . 
Cartwright,  Peter     . 
Caughey,  James 
Chapman,  J.  Wilbur 
Chauncey,  Charles     . 
Chicago,  revivals  at. 
Christian  Commission 
Church  and  State     . 
Circuit  Preaching     . 
Civil  War,  the  . 
Clark,  Francis  E. 
Clary,  Abel       ., 
Coke,  Thomas 
Cole,  Major 
Congregationalists     . 
Cumberland  Presbyterians 


39,  4i,  85 


202,  302, 
143,  155,  169,  201,  225, 


222, 


Thomas 


10,  47,  108,  1 


66, 


17,  148, 160, 
.      12, 

98,  192-194, 


195,  199, 
202,  203, 
284,  293, 

.    226, 
241,  254,  261, 
10,  11,  68, 
186,  188, 
238,  239,  24off,  261 

.  299, 


64, 68, 102, 106,  108, 
209 


304 
272 
184 
67 
268 

295 
188 
196 

73 
161 


7 
163 

16 
178 
210 

93 
253 
203 
224 
294 

58 
271 
297 
102 
210 
-263 
300 

143 
190 

295 
161 
-211 


Dartmouth  College 
Davenport,  James 


68,  72,  100 

55-57,  113 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


3*7 


Davidson,  E.  E 

295 

Davis,   Samuel           .... 

46 

Decision  Day  in  the  Sunday  School  . 

306 

Dewitt,  H.  G 

295 

Dexter,  M.  H.,  quoted 

13 

Dickinson,  Jonathan 

29 

,     44 

Disciples  of  Christ    . 

91 

,  178-180 

Doctrines  preached  in  revivals 

24,  39,  48,  97,  08, 

148, 

173,  198,  288, 

312 

,  313 

Dow,  Lorenzo            .... 

201 

Dwight,  Timothy 

•     78,88,89, 

100 

,  in 

E 
Earle,  A.  B 

250 

,  251 

East  Hampton,  Long  Island,  revivals  at 

66 

,     73 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  18 ;  early  life,  22 ;  pastorate  at  North- 
ampton, 23 ;  marriage,  23 ;  great  revival  at  Northamp- 
ton, 24fT;  doctrines  preached,  48,  49;  manner  in 
which  converts  were  affected,  49ff ;  results  of  the 
revival,  51 ;  close  of  his  pastorate  at  Northampton,  61, 
62 ;  missionary  and  literary  labors  at  Stockbridge,  62, 
63  ;  death,  63.     See  also       .         .         -54,  58,  67,  85,  309 

Elizabethtown,  revival  at 

Embury,  Philip 

Enosh 

Episcopalians     . 

Epworth  League,  the 

Evangelical  Association 

Evangelists 

See  also  under  Finney 

Exodus,  the 

Ezra 


Moody,  etc 


74. 


29 
75 
2 
66,  68,  205,  306 
.  301,  302 
.  208,  209 
43,85,96,  no,  181,  230 


Fanaticism  in  the  Great  Awakening  ....         53_57 
Finney,  Charles  G.,  no;  early  life,  118;  conversion,  119- 
123;  labors  at  Evans  Mills  and  Antwerp,  I24ff;  ordi- 


.3i8 


INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS. 


nation,  126;  revival  at  Sodom,  127;  at  Le  Rayville, 
128;  at  Gouverneur,  129;  at  De  Kalb,  130;  at  Western, 
131;  at  Rome,  132;  at  Utica,  134;  at  Auburn,  135;  the 
New  Lebanon  Convention,  136;  revivals  at  Wilming- 
ton and  Philadelphia,  138;  labors  in  N.  Y.  City,  139; 
revivals  at  Rochester,  140-143;  at  Boston,  143;  at 
Chatham  Street  Theatre,  N.  Y.,  144;  revival  lectures, 
145;  professorship  at  Oberlin,  146;  death,  147; 
methods  and  measures,  147 ;  doctrines,  148 ;  results  of 
his  labors,  150.    See  also     .         .  169,  170,  201,  225,  231,  310 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  quoted 37 

Frelinghuysen,    Theodore.         .         .         .         .         .         .20 

French  and  Indian  War 71 

French  Infidelity 77,  78-81,  88,  99,  100 


Gillies,  John,  quoted 36 

Goodwin,  E.  P.,  quoted     ......    271,  272 

Graves,  A.  P 295 

Great  Awakening,  the.   19,  20-70,  71,  103,  104,  234,  238,  308,  312 

Green,  Ashbel,  quoted 79 

Griffin,  E.  D 86-88 


H 

Half -Way    Covenant. 

Hammond,  E.   P.       . 

Hampden  Sydney  College,  revival  at 

Hanover,  Va.,  revival  at  . 

Harrison,  Thomas     . 

Harvard  College 

Heck,    Barbara. 

Holy  Spirit  in  revivals,  the 

Hopkins,   Samuel 


11, 13,  i6; 


17,61,  102,  no 

.    2^2 
.  .       84 

.     44 

•  277 
16, 38,     60 

•  74 
.    310,  312 

.     40 


Inquiry  Meetings 


.47,117,161,251,  289 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS.  319 

J 

Jarratt,  Devereaux 66,  81 

Jerks,  the 195 

Jones,   Sam 295 

Journalism,  religious          .......  106 

K 

King  George's  War 71 

King  Philip's  War    ........     14 

Kingsley,  A.  C 177 

Kirk,  E.  N.,  no;  birth  and  early  life,  152;  conversion, 
153;  entrance  on  the  ministry,  154;  revival  labors,  155, 
156;  death,  156.  See  also  .  .  .5,  170,  172,201,  256 
Knapp,  Jacob,  164;  conversion,  165;  ministerial  training, 
165;  evangelistic  labors,  166;  revival  at  Baltimore, 
166 ;  origin  of  Washingtonian  temperance  movement, 
167 ;  revival  at  Albany,  168 ;  at  New  York  city,  168 ;  at 
New  Haven,  169;  at  Boston,  169;  culmination  of  his 
ministry,  171 ;  allegations  brought  against  him,  171 ; 
results  of  his  labors,  173.     Cf 201 


Lanphier,  Jeremiah   .... 

2l8ff. 

Laymen,   in  revivals. 

230,  237,  253,  254 

Lee,  Mass.,  revival  at 

.         .         .         .     85 

"Local  preachers"      .... 

.         .         .         .   187 

Logan  County,  Ky.,  revivals  in. 

90-93 

Log  College,  the        .... 

31-45,    68 

Lyme,  Connecticut,  revival  at    . 

•      42,     53 

M 

McGranahan,   James  C.    . 

•  275 

McGready,  James      .... 

91,  210 

Mcllvaine,   Bishop,  quoted 

.      205,229,  235 

McNeil,  John 

.   284 

Mather,  Cotton          .... 

.     16 

Mather,  Increase       .... 

.      17,     57 

320  INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 

Methodists,  the  .         .  32,  74~77,  8l,  90,  93,  101,  183-204,  208 

Millerism 176,  214 

Mills,  B.   Fay   ........     290-293 

Mills,   Samuel  J.       .....         .      104,  III,  184 

Missions 306 

Missions,  Foreign 67,  104 

Missions,  Home        .......      67,  105 

Moody,  Dwight  L.,  156,  237,  255;  early  life,  255;  conver- 
sion, 257;  removal  to  Chicago,  258;  activity  in  Sun- 
day School  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work,  259-264 ;  Christian 
Commission  work,  261-263 ;  meets  Sankey,  264 ;  labors 
in  Great  Britain,  265-268;  revival  at  Brooklyn,  268;  at 
Philadelphia,  268;  at  New  York,  269;  at  Chicago,  271; 
at  Boston,  272;  in  New  England,  276;  at  Baltimore, 
276;  at  St.  Louis,  277;  on  Pacific  Coast,  278;  his 
schools  and  conferences,  278-280;  the  World's  Fair 
campaign,  280-284;  labors  during  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can War,  284 ;  Kansas  City  campaign,  285 ;  death, 
286 ;    results   of   his   work,   286,    289 ;    doctrines    and 

.    measures 287-289.     Cf.  393 

Morris,  Samuel 45 

Mount  Hermon  School 278 

Munhall,  L.  W 275,  276 

N 

"Narrative  of  Surprising  Conversions"     .         .         .29,    49 

Nash,  "Father" 129 

Nettleton,  Asahel,  no;  conversion,  no,  in;  preparation 
for  the  ministry,  ill,  112;  commencement  of  evan- 
gelistic work,  112;  revival  at  Salisbury,  Conn.,  113; 
at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y.,  114-116;  manner  of  con- 
ducting revivals,  117.     See  also  ....    136,  176 

New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  revival  at   . 

New  England,  church  life  in  the  early  . 

New  England,  settlement  of 

New  Haven,  revivals  at     . 

New  Lebanon  Convention 


.  20 

.  9 

.       7,  8 

40,  42,  169 

•    137,  144 


INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS.  321 

New  Londonderry,  Pa.,  revival  at    .         .         .  29,     53 

New  York,  revivals  at 

36,  66,  139,  143,  168,  194,  202,  22off,  269,  270 
Noon  Prayer  Meetings  .  .  .  220,224,225,231,  260 
Northampton,  Mass.,  revival  at  21,  24-28,  51 
Northfield  Christian  Workers'  Conference  .  .  .  278 
Northfield  Seminary 278 


O 

Oberlin  College 146, 150,  151 

Occum,   Samson        ........     67 

Otterbein,  Philip  W 206,  208 

P 

Panic  of  1857 216 

Parker,  Joel 161 

Parker,    Orson  ........   161 

Parsons,  Jonathan 42, 43,  51,     57 

Payson,  Edward 161 

Pentecost,  a  revival  .......       4 

Pentecost,  George  F.  .......  273 

Philadelphia,  revivals  at  .         .         .  37,  138,  224,  236,  268,  269 
Physical  effects         .  30,  42,  43,  49,  50,  54,  91,  92,  95,  103,  195-197 

"Plan  of  Union" 108,  109 

Pratt,  S.  H 295 

Prayer  in  revivals 47,  97,  99,  125, 

129,  131,  134,  143,  220,  227,  229,  231,  232,  251,  288,  308-310 
Presbyterians     .         .         .    45,  46,  61,  65,  68,  73,  85,  90,  108,  161 

Presiding  eldership 189 

Prince,  Thomas,  quoted 41 

Princeton  College 68,  72,  79,  157 

Puritan  revival,  the 7 

R 

Randall,  Benjamin 63 

Raymond,  Lewis 177 


322  INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 

Reformation,  a  revival,  the        .         .         .         .  5,      6 

Reformation  in  England,  the     .         .         .         .         .        6,       7 

Reforming  Synod,  the 15,     16 

Religious  declension 

8,  9,  13,  17,  18,  19,  77,  81,  82,  83,  94,  204,  215,  253,  307 
Religious  destitution  at  the  commencement  of  the  nine- 
teenth century    182-185 

Religious   toleration 68,     69 

Revival   conventions  .....      226,  227,  269 

Revival  in  the  Southern  Army 243-250 

Revival  measures 47,96,97,117, 

147,  173,  229,  231,  232,  233,  254,  288,  289,  290-292,  308,  312 
Revival  of  1857 

162,  212,  213-239,  250,  254,  260,  297,  308,  310,  312 
Revivals  defined         ........       1 

Revivals  during  the  Revolutionary  War     .         .         .         72-77 
Revivals  in  Great  Britain  ....       228, 265-268 

Revivals,  permanent  elements  in        ...  308-313 

Revolutionary  War,  the    .         .         46,  47,  66,  69,  70,  71-83,  238 
Rice,   David,  quoted  .......   102 

Robinson,  William 31,     45 

Rochester,  great  revival  at        ...                    I39ff,  161 
Roman  Catholics 306 

S 

Salvation  Army 302-305 

Sankey,  Ira  David     .......  264,  265ff 

Sayles,  Harold  F 295 

Slavery 103, 204,  213,  240 

Spring,   Gardiner,   quoted 104,  205 

Stebbins,   George  C. 273,  275 

Stiles,  Ezra 64 

Stoddard,    Solomon 18, 20,     23 

Stone,  B.  W 9^ 

Sunday  Schools 103,235,237,  306 

Swan,  Jabez,  174;  entrance  on  ministry,  174;  pastorate  at 
Norwich,  N.  Y.,  174;  revival  labors    .         .         .    175,  176 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS.  323 

T 

Taylor,  William 203 

Tennent,  Gilbert         .          .          .          .20,  37,  40,  41,  42,  45,  55 

Tenncnt,  William      .          .         .          .         .         .          31, 40,  46 

"Testimonies"  on  the  Great  Awakening    .         .         .58,  59 

Theological  education 106 

Torrey,  R.   A 279.  285 

Tracy,  Joseph,  quoted 38 


U 

Union  Gospel  Meetings 273 

Unitarians 102,  144,  226,  272,  292 

United  Brethren  in  Christ 206 


Van  Cott,  Mrs.  Maggie     .         .         .         .  .         .295 

Volunteers  of  America  .        ;.  305 


W 

Walker,  Jesse,  quoted       .......   184 

Waterbury,  Jared 153 

Washingtonian  Temperance  Movement     ....   167 
Wesley.  Charles        .         .         .         .         .         .         •      33,     34 

Wesley,  John 29,     34 

Wharton,   H.   M 284,  295 

Wheelock,  Eleazer 43, 67,     69 

Whitefield,  George,  23;  early  life,  31;  at  Oxford,  32;  con- 
version, 32;  commencement  of  his  ministry,  33;  goes 
to  Georgia,  34;  open  air  preaching,  35;  visit  to  Phila- 
delphia and  the  Northern  Colonies,  36 ;  visit  to  New 
England,  38-41 ;  second  visit  to  New  England,  60,  61 ; 
close  of  his  life,  63.     See  also 

42,  44,  45,  46,  54,  55,  66,  68.  74.  85.  109,  309 
Whittle,  D.  W 268,  273-275,  285 


324  INDEX    OF   SUBJECTS. 

Y 

Yale  College      .         .      22,  23,  40,  60,  72,  78,  88,  89,  100,  ill,  169 
Yatman,  C.  H.  ........  295 

Young,  Jacob,  quoted 183 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association 

224,  235,  237,  241,  254,  261,  262,  284.  285,  296-298 
Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  298-301,  302 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association     ....  298 


